In Conversation - Immaculate Heart of Mary Sr. Annmarie Sanders of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and Betty Thompson of Solidarity with Sisters discuss their new book, However Long the Night: Making Meaning in a Time of Crisis.
LCWR 2017: It's high time for women religious to take ownership of the narrative that has dominated their vocation for the past half-century, said St. Joseph Sr. Mary Pellegrino. As president of the Leadership Conference for Women Religious, she made an emphatic call to almost 800 women religious Aug. 10 to begin shifting the focus from diminishment to communion. The address, which was both challenging and comforting, was part of LCWR's annual assembly, held Aug. 8-11 in Orlando.
LCWR 2017 - As hundreds of sisters in leadership gather Aug. 8-11 in Orlando, Florida, planners are looking for the meeting to be a spiritual experience, not a business meeting. As in 2016, the conference format involves contemplative dialogue; current issues to discuss include being a countercultural presence in the world, restructuring the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, addressing loss, and shaping the evolution of religious life.
More than 5,600 U.S. religious sisters have signed a letter asking for civil discourse in the presidential campaign. The letter was to be sent Aug. 8 to the candidates of the Democratic, Republican, Green and Libertarian parties as well as their vice presidential running mates and the chairs of their respective parties.
Book review - Published by Orbis in September, Transformational Leadership: Conversations with the Leadership Conference of Women Religious is a collection of 18 interviews that will interest not just members of women religious' communities, but anyone in leadership seeking to act faithfully as an agent of transformation in challenging, changing circumstances.
There is a restless peace among women religious. The Vatican and the congregations of women religious in the United States have completed the apostolic visitation process initiated by the Vatican. Some people will continue to debate the terms of the settlement between LCWR and CDF, but sisters are moving to other issues. Sisters were passionately involved in other issues before and during and these events. But before we squander this moment, it would be a loss not to seek its fullest meanings, its learnings. What can we discover in these events? What we will take with us from this crucible? How do we navigate an environment relatively free from conflict between the official church and women religious in the United States?
Analysis - The Catholic church has much to learn from the recent encounter between the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which recently concluded an investigation into the sisters’ theology, procedures and program choices.
The announcement six years ago of an apostolic visitation of United States congregations of women religious caused a stir among many sisters. This attempt by the Vatican to exert unwanted control posed a threat to the identity and mission of the congregations and initiated a crisis. However, a good number of the congregations faced the challenge head on with a response reminiscent of the swarming behavior of starlings.
Women religious in the United States have often led the way in calling for a more open conversation regarding controverted teaching, but they have done so not out of a disregard of the great tradition, but based on their wealth of pastoral experience. The move of women religious to the margins of society came long before Pope Francis made this pastoral option a central feature of his papal program.
This year’s gathering of leaders of congregations of women religious in the United States marks the first public discussion of two controversial Vatican investigations. The Leadership Conference of Women Religious is planning its annual assembly for Aug. 11-14 in Houston, Texas. Last year’s gathering was held under the cloud of both an apostolic visitation and a doctrinal assessment. Both investigations, however, ended in the past year with no findings of serious wrongdoing and with much praise for women religious and the work they do.
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