The Catholic News Service is reporting that the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), an umbrella group that claims to represent 80 percent of the country's 57,000 women's religious, will now be under the care of Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle who will provide "review, guidance and approval where necessary" of the work of the LCWR. Assisting him will be Bishop Leonard P. Blair of Toledo and Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois. The bishops will also draw on the advice of their fellow bishops, women religious and other experts as they seek to reform the group.
The announcement was made on April 18 and was accompanied by an eight-page "doctrinal assessment" based on an investigation of the group that began in 2008. During that time, the Vatican found that "the current doctrinal and pastoral situation of LCWR is grave and a matter of serious concern, also given the influence the LCWR exercises on religious congregation in other parts of the world."
The LCWR has been an outspoken critic of Church teaching on the ordination of women, homosexuality, and other issues concerning sexuality. It was one of the few Catholic groups in the country to support ObamaCare and the HHS mandate accommodation.
"While there has been a great deal of work on the part of LCWR promoting issues of social justice in harmony with the church's social doctrine, it is silent on the right to life from conception to natural death, a question that is part of the lively public debate about abortion and euthanasia in the United States," the doctrinal congregation said. "Further, issues of crucial importance in the life of the church and society, such as the church's biblical view of family life and human sexuality, are not part of the LCWR agenda in a way that promotes church teaching."
The Vatican also found that "public statements by the LCWR that disagree with or challenge positions taken by the bishops, who are the church's authentic teachers of faith and morals, are not compatible with its purpose."
The CDF also took issue with addresses given during LCWR annual assemblies that contain serious theological errors. The document specifically cites an address given by Sr. Laurie Brink who suggested that some religious are "moving beyond the Church" and even beyond Jesus. "This is a challenge not only to core Catholic beliefs; such a rejection of faith is also a serious source of scandal and is incompatible with religious life," the CDF writes.
According to the document, these positions "routinely go unchallenged by the LCWR," and suggested that teachings such as Brink's should be seen as "a cry for help."
The Congregation also cited the group for its policies of corporate dissent as evidenced by letters it has received from "leadership teams" of various congregations, many of them from LCWR officers, protesting the Church's position on women's ordination and its pastoral approach to homosexual persons.
"The terms of the letters suggest that these sisters collectively take a position not in agreement with the Church’s teaching on human sexuality," the document states. "It is a serious matter when these Leadership Teams are not providing effective leadership and example to their communities, but place themselves outside the Church’s teaching."
The group's radical feminism was also cited, with the CDF saying the prevalence of certain feminist themes in the group's programs and presentations are "incompatible with the Catholic faith . . . including theological interpretations that risk distorting faith in Jesus and his loving Father who sent his Son for the salvation of the world."
Some of the group's commentaries on “patriarchy” distort the way in which Jesus has structured sacramental life in the Church, the CDF writes. "Others even undermine the revealed doctrines of the Holy Trinity, the divinity of Christ, and the inspiration of Sacred Scripture."
The Vatican stressed that the motive of the work of any conference of major superiors of women religious " can and should be a fruitful means of addressing the contemporary situation and supporting religious life in its most 'radical' sense — that is, in the faith in which it is rooted" (emphases original).
As a result, Archbishop Sartain will now oversee a revision of the LCWR's statutes, its liturgical practices, and the creation of formation programs for the conference's member congregations. They will also investigate the LCWR's links to two outside groups; Network, a Catholic social justice lobby which was founded by a group of feminist nuns and promotes eco-feminism; and the Resource Center for Religious Institutes which provides legal and financial expertise to religious orders.
Sr. AnnMarie Sanders, IHM, director of communications for the LCWR, said in a statement posted on the group's website that the "presidency of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious was stunned by the conclusions of the doctrinal assessment of LCWR by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Because the leadership of LCWR has the custom of meeting annually with the staff of CDF in Rome and because the conference follows canonically-approved statutes, we were taken by surprise.
"This is a moment of great import for religious life and the wider church. We ask your prayers as we meet with the LCWR National Board within the coming month to review the mandate and prepare a response."
Click here to read the full text of the CDF document.
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