Carl E. Olson's Blog, page 223

John Paul II, Christian Anthropology, and “Familiaris Consortio”

From the essay with that title, written by Rev. Michael Bruno for Homiletic & Pastoral Review:

The beatification of Pope John Paul II serves as a significant reminder of the theological and spiritual legacy of his nearly twenty- seven year papacy.  Among the many efforts that the late pontiff engaged in was the battle against what he famously called, in his 1995 encyclical, Evangelium vitae, a “culture of death” 1—a cultural reality he knew in his own life in war-torn and communist-controlled Poland.  However, more than simply challenging the darkness, caused by the cultural and ethical challenges of our day, Pope John Paul II proposed and preached a different, truly “counter-cultural” vision, as a theologian, bishop, and as Roman Pontiff.  He called humanity to rediscover an anthropology based in the beauty and dignity of human life, laying its foundation firmly in Sacred Scripture and Church Tradition.  One clear example of this bold and prophetic project came to us in the 1981 Apostolic Exhortation, Familiaris Consortio, which is known for its canonical and theological considerations on the Sacrament of Matrimony.

However, in this Apostolic Exhortation, Pope John Paul II makes often overlooked anthropological affirmations that form the basis of the canonical and theological affirmations of the rest of the document.  One such affirmation comes in the beginning of the second section of the document, dedicated to “The Plan of God for Marriage and the Family.”  In the opening line of this section, the late pontiff writes, “God created man in his own image and likeness: calling him to existence through love, he called him at the same time for love.” 2  In this important statement, we find an interpretation of Gen 1:26, based in a personalist, anthropological approach—an approach which John Paul II carried throughout his life, which was prevalent in his theological and philosophical outlook.  His focus upon this particular verse of Genesis is, in fact, no surprise as Gen 1:26 remains a key reference point in Christian anthropology, and has been discussed steadily within the tradition of the Church.  However, by drawing from a personalist perspective, in his exegesis of Gen 1:26, John Paul II broadened the horizon of the scriptural interpretation of this passage. It transformed the mode by which the Magisterium discusses the nature of man.  To demonstrate this, I would like to examine in more detail Familiaris Consortio [FC] §11.  For in this often overlooked passage, John Paul II affirms that creation in the image and likeness of God defines not only the nature of humanity, but also its fullest realization.

Continue reading on HPRweb.com.

The Pope on tourism and on man as traveler

From Fr. James V. Schall, S.J.:

The Vatican actually has a council that deals with the pastoral care of tourists. It met in Cancun, Mexico, not an unknown tourist resort, April 23-27. Benedict directed a short but significant letter to the members attending.

“Tourism,” Benedict remarks, “is certainly a phenomenon characteristic of our times.” Almost all modern popes, of course, have spoken of tourism. John Paul II himself may have been the all-time top traveller of our time. It is estimated that he was seen in person by more human beings than any other man in history.

Moreover, the Vatican itself is probably the number one tourist destination in the world. In my Roman years (1965-77), I was ever struck by the numbers and varieties of tourists who came to Rome. But I also observed the fact that those popes who built churches, basilicas, chapels, and who sponsored art and gardens, were centuries ahead of their time. They were major contributors to Italian prosperity and Vatican uniqueness because they built and sponsored things of beauty.

So tourism is not just a phenomenon of our time. It goes back to Herodotus, to medieval pilgrims, to early modern explorers, to the Grand Tour, to the charm and perhaps illusion of different places. What Benedict wants to add to the fact of tourism is that “like other human realities, it is called to be enlightened and transformed by the Word of God.” The Church is not at all opposed to this opportunity of people to travel and meet others, but it is also aware of the darker side of tourism.

One of the names given to man, besides animal rationale, homo ludens, animal sociale, is homo viator, man the traveler, a phrase Benedict himself uses. The great travel stories and adventures are essential to human history and human reality. We have a sense that we must see more than ourselves and our local scenes, however much they are home to us.

Travel is not immigration; the traveler intends to return home having seen something of the world. The traveler can only catch glimpses of what is new and distant from his own local world. Often he does not know the language or customs of what he sees. He is both bewildered and fascinated. He knows he is not at home, yet he sees that other people are at home in places he does not know.

Read the entire post on the Catholic World Report blog.

The “Roman Missal” and Alienation

Recently posted on the Homiletic & Pastoral Review site:

The new English translation of the Roman Missal is one of the most significant liturgical reforms in the life of the Church since the Second Vatican Council.  Its effect is immediate and broad.  This revision of liturgical language, likewise, intimately affects the religious experience of English speaking Catholics.  And yet it is precisely this impact that affords the Church an unparalleled opportunity for authentic renewal.

One particular dimension deserving attention is the manner by which the Church receives the sacred words of the Liturgy.  To simply enact the new legislation, to explain the principles guiding the method of translation, or to explain its correspondence to Christian dogma fails to exhaust the full potential of this liturgical change.  This reform must be accompanied by a type of examination of conscience.  Whether attitudes and integration with daily life receive new inspiration from the revised translation of the Roman Missal will serve as a “sign of the times,” a litmus test of the spirit of this generation.

The sacramentality of language
The celebration of the sacred liturgy in the vernacular was seen by the Second Vatican Council as an organic component of ecclesial renewal.  While neither abrogating Latin, nor sanctioning unfettered use of the vernacular, the Council Fathers foresaw pastoral value behind wider application of the vernacular.  It was noted that this “may frequently be of great advantage to the people” (Sacrosanctum Concilium §36).  One aspect of this advantage is a fresh attention given to the sacramentality of language, by which I mean the capacity of language to communicate something about the mystery of God that is true, real, and meaningful.

Read the entire essay, written by Fr. Richard L. Schamber.

New: "Real Love" (2nd Edition) by Mary Beth Bonacci

Real Love: Answers to Your Questions on Dating, Marriage and the Real Meaning of Sex (2nd Edition)

by Mary Beth Bonacci

• Also available in Electronic Book Format

Mary Beth Bonacci has spoken to hundreds of thousands of people across the country and around the world-about friendship, about relationships, about marriage, about God's plan for sexuality, and about finding real, honest love.

And they speak back to her. They ask her questions-about sex, about dating, about healing after a shattered relationship, about marriage, about their struggles to live love. In this newly updated and expanded edition of Real Love, Mary Beth shares those questions-and her answers-in an even more comprehensive guide which addresses the details of the very real struggle we all face in trying to live real love in a world gone mad.

Through these questions and her answers, Mary Beth offers a comprehensive catechesis of the Church's teaching in the areas of marriage and human sexuality. She tackles the toughest issues-premarital sex, contraception, divorce, homosexuality, internet pornography and others. She gives practical advice on living the Church's teachings. And throughout it all, she demonstrates that living respect for God's gift of sexuality is the way-the only way-to find real, honest love.

Mary Beth Bonacci is an internationally known speaker and writer. She is also a syndicated columnist and the author of the book We're on a Mission from God. Mary Beth holds a Master's degree in Theology of Marriage and Family from the John Paul II Institute, and an honorary Ph.D. in Communication from the Franciscan University of Steubenville.

 "Looking for a book with staying power? Mary Beth takes the heart of Theology of the Body and breaks it down into practical, real-life situations. If you're looking for a resource to help you understand for your self, or to help you teach others the heart of the message about sexuality, healthy dating relationships, and everything in between, Real Love is it."
- Jim Beckman, Author God Help Me, Director of Youth Ministry, Augustine Institute

"Real Love is, hands down, one of the most effective books out there for conveying that chastity isn't about saying ‘no' to sex, but ‘YES' to freedom, happiness and the kind of love we were made for."
- Chris Stefanick, Speaker and Author, Director of Youth Outreach, yDisciple

"Real Love is a spirit-filled solid compass that guides one safely through the wild jungle of secular values. I would recommend it to anyone who wishes to experience a stable, happy and meaningful life in the context of encountering true love in relationships - the way God intended. The lessons I learned from Real Love helped me to make sense of God's intention for love in relationships. I attribute my passion for chastity and the joy I have encountered in my marriage toReal Love. Thank you MaryBeth for sharing the wisdom and love of God plainly and powerfully."
- Joe Sengooba, Rustenburg, South Africa. 

The childhood of St. Catherine of Siena

The opening pages of Catherine of Siena | by Sigrid Undset, the Nobel Prize winning author of Kristin Lavransdatter | Ignatius Insight

In the city-states of Tuscany the citizens—Popolani—businessmen, master craftsmen and the professional class had already in the Middle Ages demanded and won the right to take part in the government of the republic side by side with the nobles—the Gentiluomini. In Siena they had obtained a third of the seats in the High Council as early as the twelfth century. In spite of the fact that the different parties and rival groups within the parties were in constant and often violent disagreement, and in spite of the frequent wars with Florence, Siena's neighbour and most powerful competitor, prosperity reigned within the city walls. The Sienese were rich and proud of their city, so they filled it with beautiful churches and public buildings. Masons, sculptors, painters and smiths who made the exquisite lattices and lamps, were seldom out of work. Life was like a brightly coloured tissue, where violence and vanity, greed and uninhibited desire for sensual pleasure, the longing for power, and ambition, were woven together in a multitude of patterns. But through the tissue ran silver threads of Christian charity, deep and genuine piety in the monasteries and among the good priests, among the brethren and sisters who had dedicated themselves to a life of helping their neighbours. The well-to-do and the common people had to the best of their ability provided for the sick, the poor and the lonely with unstinted generosity. In every class of the community there were good people who lived a quiet, modest and beautiful family life of purity and faith.

The family of Jacopo Benincasa was one of these. By trade he was a wool-dyer, and he worked with his elder sons and apprentices while his wife, Lapa di Puccio di Piagente, firmly and surely ruled the large household, although her life was an almost unbroken cycle of pregnancy and childbirth—and almost half her children died while they were still quite small. It is uncertain how many of them grew up, but the names of thirteen children who lived are to be found on an old family tree of the Benincasas. Considering how terribly high the rate of infant mortality was at that time, Jacopo and Lapa were lucky in being able to bring up more than half the children they had brought into the world.

Jacopo Benincasa was a man of solid means when in 1346 he was able to rent a house in the Via dei Tintori, close to the Fonte Branda, one of the beautiful covered fountains which assured the town of a plentiful supply of fresh water. The old home of the Benincasas, which is still much as it was at that time, is, according to our ideas, a small house for such a big family. But in the Middle Ages people were not fussy about the question of housing, least of all the citizens of the fortified towns where people huddled together as best they could within the protection of the walls. Building space was expensive, and the city must have its open markets, churches and public buildings, which at any rate theoretically belonged to the entire population. The houses were crowded together in narrow, crooked streets. According to the ideas of that time the new home of the Benincasas was large and impressive.

Lapa had already had twenty-two children when she gave birth to twins, two little girls, on Annunciation Day, March 25, 1347. They were christened Catherine and Giovanna. Madonna Lapa could only nurse one of the twins herself, so little Giovanna was handed over to a nurse, while Catherine fed at her mother's breast. Never before had Monna Lapa been able to experience the joy of nursing her own children—a new pregnancy had always forced her to give her child over to another woman. But Catherine lived on her mother's milk until she was old enough to be weaned. It was all too natural that Lapa, who was already advanced in years, came to love this child with a demanding and well-meaning mother-love which later, when the child grew up, made the relationship between the good-hearted, simple Lapa and her young eagle of a daughter one long series of heart-rending misunderstandings. Lapa loved her immeasurably and understood her not at all.

Catherine remained the youngest and the darling of the whole family, for little Giovanna died in infancy, and a new Giovanna, born a few years later, soon followed her sister and namesake into the grave. Her parents consoled themselves with the firm belief that these small, innocent children had flown from their cradles straight into Paradise—while Catherine, as Raimondo of Capua writes, using a slightly far-fetched pun on her name and the Latin word "catena" (a chain), had to work hard on earth before she could take a whole chain of saved souls with her to heaven.








When the Blessed Raimondo of Capua collected material for his biography of St. Catherine he got Madonna Lapa to tell him about the saint's childhood—long, long ago, for Lapa was by that time a widow of eighty. From Raimondo's description one gets the impression that Lapa enjoyed telling everything that came into her head to such an understanding and responsive listener. She told of the old days when she was the active, busy mother in the middle of a flock of her own children, her nieces and nephews, grandchildren, friends and neighbours, and Catherine was the adored baby of a couple who were already elderly. Lapa described het husband Jacopo as a man of unparalleled goodness, piety and uprightness. Raimondo writes that Lapa herself "had not a sign of the vices which one finds among people of our time"; she was an innocent and simple soul, and completely without the ability to invent stories which were not true. But because she had the well-being of so many people on her shoulders, she could not be so unworldly and patient as her husband; or perhaps Jacopo was really almost too good for this world, so that his wife had to be even more practical than she already was, and on occasion she thought it her duty to utter a word or two of common sense to protect the interests of the family.

For Jacopo never said a hard or untimely word however upset or badly treated he might be, and if others in the house gave way to their bad temper or used bitter or unkind words he always tried to talk them round: "Now listen, for your own sake you must keep calm and not use such unseemly words." Once one of his townsmen tried to force him into paying a large sum of money which Jacopo did not owe him, and the honest dyer was hounded and persecuted till he was almost ruined by the slanderous talk of this man and his powerful friends. But in spite of everything Jacopo would not allow anyone to say a word against the man; Lapa did so, but her husband replied: "Leave him in peace, you will see that God will show him his fault and protect us." And a short while afrer that it really happened, said Lapa.

Coarse words and dirty talk were unknown in the dyer's home. His daughter Bonaventura, who was married to a young Sienese, Niccalo, was so much grieved when her husband and his friends engaged in loose talk and told doubtful jokes that she became physically ill and began to waste away. Her husband, who must really have been a well-meaning young man, was worried when he saw how thin and pale his bride was, and wanted to know what was wrong with her. Bonaventura replied seriously, "In my father's house I was not used to listening to such words as I must hear here every day. You can be sure that if such indecent talk continues in our house you will live to see me waste to death." Niccolo at once saw to it that all such bad habits which wounded his wife's feelings were stopped, and openly expressed his admiration for her chaste and modest ways, and the piety of his parents-in-law.

Such was the home of little Catherine. Everyone petted and loved her, and when she was still quite tiny her family admired her "wisdom" when they listened to her innocent prattle. And as she was also very pretty Lapa could scarcely ever have her to herself; all the neighbours wanted to borrow her! Medieval writers seldom trouble to describe children or try to understand them. But Lapa manages in a few pages of Raimondo's book to give us a picture of a little Italian girl, serious and yet happy, attractive and charming—and already beginning to show that overwhelming vitality and spiritual energy which many years later made Raimondo and her other "children" surrender to her influence, with the feeling that her words and her presence banished despondency and faint-heartedness, and filled their souls with the peace and love of God. As soon as she left the circle of her own family, little Catherine became the leader of all the other small children in the street. She taught them games which she had herself invented—that is to say innumerable small acts of devotion. When she was five years old she taught herself the Angelus, and she loved tepeating it incessantly. As she went up or down the stairs at home she used to kneel on each step and say an Ave Maria. For the pious little daughter of a pious family, where everyone talked kindly and politely to everyone else, it must have been quite natural for her as soon as she had heard of God to talk in the same way to Him and His following of saints. It was then still a kind of game for Catherine. But small children put their whole souls and all their imagination into their games.

The neighbours called her Euphrosyne. This is the name of one of the Graces, and it seemed that Raimondo had his doubts about it; could the good people in the Fontebranda quarter have such knowledge of classical mythology that they knew what the name meant? He thought that perhaps, before she could talk properly, Catherine called her something which the neighbors took to be Euphrosyne, for there is also a saint of that name. The Sienese were however used to seeing processions and listening to songs and verse, so they could easily have picked up more of the poets' property than Raimondo imagined. Thus for example, Lapa's father, Pucio de Piagnete, wrote verse in his free time; he was by trade a craftsman—a mattress maker. He was moreover a very pious man, generous towards the monasteries and to monks and nuns. He might easily have known both the heathen and the Christian Euphrosyne. Catherine was for a time very much interested in the legend of St. Euphrosyne, who is supposed to have dressed as a boy and run away from home to enter a monastery. She toyed with the idea of doing the same herself. . . .

Related IgnatiusInsight.com Book Excerpts:

• Chapter One of The Living Wood: Saint Helena and the Emperor Constantine (A Novel) | Louis de Wohl
• Chapter One of Citadel of God: A Novel About Saint Benedict | Louis de Wohl

Sigrid Undset (1882-1949), a renowned literary author and one of the most acclaimed novelists of the twentieth century, won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1928 for her epic work Kristin Lavransdatter.

“See what love the Father has bestowed on us..."

A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for Sunday, April 29, 2012, the Fourth Sunday of Easter | Carl E. Olson

Readings:
• Acts 4:8-12
• Ps 118:1, 8-9, 21-23, 26, 28, 29
• 1 Jn 3:1-2
• Jn 10:11-18

During Holy Week we focused on the Passion, death, and Resurrection of the Son; when Pentecost arrives, we will focus on the transforming work of the Paraclete. It is sometimes said, very understandably, that the Holy Spirit is the most mysterious of the three Persons of the Trinity. But, while emphasizing the unity and equality of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I often think the Father is, in his own way, just as mysterious.

Today’s readings shed some light on the first Person of the Trinity, particularly on three qualities: his command, his power, and his love. All three help us to appreciate more deeply the Father’s plan, purpose, and person.

The Father is mentioned some 130 times in John’s Gospel, and one of the key themes of John’s writing is the intimate relationship between the Father and the Son. The Father, Jesus states, “loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand” (Jn 3:35). “He who does not honor the Son,” he preached, “does not honor the Father who sent him” (Jn 5:23). And Jesus says directly and simply: “I and the Father are one” (Jn 10:30). In today’s Gospel, from the Good Shepherd discourse, Jesus makes clear he, of his own free will and volition, “will lay down my life for the sheep. … No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own.” But he also adds that this command to lay down his life was “received from my Father.”

The Father’s command was for the Son to become man, suffer, and die. Yet this command was not accepted unwillingly or received as an order from a superior—after all, the Father and the Son are both fully God. This might seem strange to us since we naturally tend to think of commands as directives from a superior to a subordinate. But this way of thinking is purified and transformed by the revelation of who God is as Trinity—an eternal exchange of perfect and personal love.

This is why Jesus states later, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love” (Jn 15:10), and “This I command you, to love one another” (Jn 15:17). There is no conflict between the love of the Father and the Father’s commandments, for God is love and everything from him is love. To those who are sons of the Father, the commandments are gifts of love. But to those who reject the Father, the commandments are confining, annoying, even angering.

The Father’s power, Peter declared, is shown by raising the Son from the dead. “The Father's power ‘raised up’ Christ his Son,” explains the Catechism, “and by doing so perfectly introduced his Son's humanity, including his body, into the Trinity” (par 648). The Father so loved the world he sent his Son, the Son became man, and the Incarnate Son—fully God, fully man—was taken into the Trinity.

That affirmation of the Crucified Lord and of his body brings us to John’s first epistle: “See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God.” The Triune God created man out of love, his plan of salvation flows from his love, and he desires that all men freely choose to share in his gift of boundless love (cf., CCC, par 1). The Incarnation, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection reveal and make present this perfect love.

“Although the Son is always beloved by reason of his nature,” wrote Cyril of Jerusalem in his commentary on the Gospel of John, “it is evident that Christ is also beloved by God the Father because of his love toward us.” The Father gives his Son, and the Son gives the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit gives us the life of the Father so we might enter eternally into the beatific vision, “the ever-flowing well-spring of happiness, peace, and mutual communion” (CCC, 1045).

 (This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the May 3, 2009, edition of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)

Catherine of Siena and Leaving the Church

Catherine of Siena and Leaving the Church | Thomas McDermott, OP | Catholic World Report

What this 14th-century mystic can teach us about fidelity to Christ and to a Church in crisis.

In the wake of so many clerical sex abuse scandals, to many people the Catholic Church appears hypocritical and bankrupt morally and spiritually. In the midst of such trying times, how can Catholics justify remaining in the Church? The words and deeds of St. Catherine of Siena (1347-1380), Dominican Mantelatta—or penitential woman—who lived during an earlier crisis, can offer us some guidance and hope. 

Catherine lived in worse times than our own because it was not only the Church that seemed to be collapsing, but larger society and even the world itself. The Black Death, or bubonic plague—one of the deadliest pandemics in human history—reached Sicily via Genoese trading ships from the Black Sea the year Catherine was born. It is said that four-fifths of the population of Siena died from the plague the following year. There would be several successive waves of the disease during Catherine’s lifetime. One anonymous chronicler in Siena at the time wrote: “And no bells tolled, and nobody wept no matter what his loss because almost everyone expected death…. And people said and believed, ‘This is the end of the world.’” 

At the time, Italy was a conglomeration of feuding monarchies, communes, and republics with factions such as the Guelphs, who supported the papacy, and the Ghibellines, who supported the northern Italian rulers. The Italian peninsula was beset by foreign mercenaries, the most famous of which was the Englishman John Hawkwood, to whom Catherine directed one of her 381 letters. Outside of Italy, the Hundred Years War between England and France was raging, and there was the additional threat of militant Islam as seen in the advance of the Turks twice to Vienna. 

Catherine lived during a time of pessimism and cynicism. Barbara Tuchman, in her historical narrative A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, described the period as “a time of turmoil, diminished expectations, loss of confidence in institutions, and feelings of helplessness at forces beyond human control.”

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

Are Men to Be Heartless?

From a recently posted essay on Homiletic & Pastoral Review, written by Fr. Stanley Smolenski, SPMA:

A seminary professor, when analyzing the episode of Emmaus (Lk 24:13-35), said that one of the two disciples was most likely a woman.  Our teacher based that judgment on the question, “Did not our hearts burn when he explained the scriptures to us?”, as though the heart were only a feminine concern. Are men, then, to be heartless?  Blessed John Paul II refutes that idea. In his youth, he frequently visited the great Shrine of Holy Calvary near his town. When he made a pilgrimage there as Pope, he said, “Here, the Mother of God nourished my heart.”  John Paul was a man not only of the head but equally of the heart. His heart was not undernourished.

The validity of that last statement can be seen in what Pope Benedict said to a Marian group from Bavaria on May 28, 2011. Speaking of his seminary days, he pointed out: “When we were studying after the war—and I believe that today not very much has changed, I do not think the situation is much improved—the Mariology taught at the German universities was somewhat austere and dull.” It lacks inspiration. Only the head is being taken care of. This brings to mind what St. Therese of Lisieux said about her reading some theological books: they gave her a headache. She emphasized that they did nothing for her heart.  Was she a mere sentimentalist? The recognized Dominican scripture scholar, founder of the Ecole Biblique in Jerusalem, Fr. Marie-Joseph Lagrange, is reported to have said this about her: “Therese has saved me from becoming a dry old bookworm.”

The remedy for this imbalance could very well be the “way of experience” which is becoming more acceptable as a theological source. The Pontifical International Marian Academy, described this in their publication The Mother of the Lord—Memory, Presence, Hope: “It should be noted that ‘the way of experience’ puts forth a knowledge from divine revelation acquired, not through speculation, but through a personal encounter of believers with that which they have welcomed in a deeply personal way into their lives” (p. 26).

Read the entire essay at www.HPRweb.com.

China. Ryan. LCWR. Contraception. Prayer. Baptisms. Music. Scripture.

Some of the topics addressed in recent posts on the Catholic World Report blog:

• Commission for the Catholic Church in China laments confusion caused by illegitimate bishops
• "Give me Thomas Aquinas ... don't give me Ayn Rand"
• LCWR board to "discuss CDF Assessment"; plans to "move slowly"
• The World, um, Created by Contraception
• Benedict XVI reflects on the "profound unity between prayer and action"
• More than 22,000 Easter Vigil baptisms in China
• Catholic Music: A non-definitive but exceptional, eclectic list
• The real shock...
• Two options for the LCWR
• Benedict XVI reflects on the truth and inspiration of the Bible
• And Much More!

The Church and the Sisters: What Is Really Happening?

The Church and the Sisters: What Is Really Happening? | Ann Carey | Catholic World Report

The standard media account about the CDF and LCWR lacks essential information and historical background

From the moment the United States Bishops announced on April 18 that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) had issued a document ordering a supervised renewal of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), confusion and misinformation about the initiative have run rampant.

Sensational headlines have appeared, such as: “Nuns Gone Wild! Vatican Chastises American Sisters” (Daily Beast, April 20), “Vatican waging a war on nuns” (Chicago Sun Times, April 20) and “Guess Who the Vatican Is Picking on Now …” (Philly Post, April 23).

The common theme in most media reports about the CDF initiative, as these headlines suggest, is that out-of-touch men in the Vatican are unfairly criticizing the most faithful and hard-working members of the Church—the sisters. So, is this really the case? Hardly.

On page one of the eight-page CDF document, the accomplishments of women religious are cited and praised: “The Holy See acknowledges with gratitude the great contribution of women Religious to the Church in the United States … .”

However, the document goes on to point out that vowed religious are much more than social workers: they are consecrated persons who have a special place in the Church that must be marked by a strong faith and allegiance to Church authority. The LCWR, it continued, has shown a “diminution of the fundamental Christological center and focus of religious consecration which leads, in turn, to a loss of a ‘constant and lively sense of the Church’ among some religious.”

Additionally, the CDF document emphasizes that the initiative is addressed only to the LCWR, a 1,500-member organization to which many leaders of women’s religious orders belong. The initiative is not directed to the other 54,000 sisters in the United States who do not belong to the LCWR, though press reports have tended to confuse this point and characterize all sisters as members of the LCWR.

This is quite incorrect, and many sisters who are in LCWR-related orders have contacted this writer to emphasize that they have neither membership, voice or vote in the LCWR, and they do not appreciate being associated with the organization. In fact, many sisters in LCWR-related orders are quite pleased about the CDF action. As one such sister wrote in an e-mail: “I am so grateful to Pope Benedict and to all in Rome and in the USA who have contributed to this resolution. It has been a long nightmare and a severe cross for 40-plus years!”

Continue reading on www.CatholicWorldReport.com.