By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS Staff Journalist A high-ranking Vatican official has accused U.S. nuns of displaying “public and obstinate betrayal of religious life” by resisting the apostolic visitation and for the grave public scandal they caused by supporting ObamaCare. Ave Maria Radio is reporting that in a keynote speech he gave last Friday at Mundelein Seminary in Illinois, Archbishop Raymond Burke, Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, said religious need to start standing up for the truth or cease calling themselves Catholic. In spite of the joy of the occasion of his speech, the acceptance of the Pro Fidelitate et Virtute Award given to him by the Institute of Religious Life, he said the occasion was "overshadowed by the public and obstinate betrayal of religious life by certain religious. Who ever could have imagined that religious congregations of pontifical right, would openly organize to resist and attempt to frustrate an apostolic visitation, that is, a visit to their congregations carried out under the authority of the vicar of Christ on earth, to whom all religious are bound by the strongest bonds of loyalty and obedience?" He was referring to the many sisters who are refusing to cooperate with the visitation, and for those who have openly defied the Church, such as Sr. Sandra M. Schneiders, of the Sisters Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. In remarks published in the National Catholic Reporter, Sr. Schneiders suggested that nuns should receive representatives of Rome "politely and kindly, for what they are, uninvited guests who should be received in the parlor, not given the run of the house." Archbishop Burke had equally strong words for those sisters who spoke out publicly in support of pro-abortion ObamaCare, such as Sr. Carol Keehan, DC, president of the Catholic Health Association. “Who could imagine that consecrate religious would openly, and in defiance of the bishops as successors of the Apostles, public endorse legislation containing provisions which violate the natural moral law in its most fundamental tenets, the safeguarding and promoting of innocent and defenseless life, and fail to safeguard the demands of free exercise of conscience for healthcare workers?” We are living through a time when there is a growing tendency among religious to “view themselves outside and above the Body of Christ, as a parallel institution looking in upon the Church with an autonomy that contradicts their very nature,” he said. The spiritual harm done to disobedient religious as well as to the faithful by the grave scandal this behavior causes is of “incalculable dimensions," he said. "Now is the time for us all, and in particular for consecrated persons to stand up for the truth and to call upon our fellow Catholics and leadership to do the same, or to cease identifying themselves as Catholics." © All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly®/Women of Grace®  http://www.womenofgrace.com