“At this time, LCWR knows neither the process nor timeline for completion of this assessment. As more information is made available to LCWR, the conference will take the appropriate steps to prepare for its participation in the assessment. LCWR faces this process with confidence, believing that the conference has remained faithful to its mission of service to leaders of congregations of women religious as they seek to further the mission of Christ in today’s world.”
Several conservative Catholic pundits have labeled this proper comeuppance. Damian Thompson at The Telegraph commented that, “one of the worst things about American Catholicism is its militia of feminist nuns, who long ago decided that the Magisterium was too restricting for them, and that if they couldn’t be priests they could at least swan around like them, issuing bossy diktats about ‘being Church’… I get the feeling that Rome is going to ask its radical American nuns to be Catholics. I don’t fancy its chances.”
This investigation comes on the heels of another Vatican-ordered probe meant to discern why there has been such a sizable drop in the number of religious sisters in the United States. From in 1945 to 2000 the number of U.S. born nuns has plummeted 45% and shows no sign of improvement through 2008.
