By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
A leader from the 1970’s movement of dissent among women religious is calling for sisters to engage in “non-violent” resistance to the upcoming Vatican visitation of their communities.
In a private e-mail to friends that she allowed to be published by the National Catholic Reporter, Sr. Sandra M. Schneiders, IHM, an outspoken dissenter well known in Call to Action circles, called the upcoming visitations a “fake war being stirred up by the Vatican at the instigation of the frightened.”
The visitations, which were announced by the Vatican on Jan. 30, 2009, are meant to assess the quality of life in U.S. religious communities. The visitations will be similar to those conducted among U.S. seminaries in 2005-2006.
“We just went through a similar investigation of seminaries, equally aggressive and dishonest,” Sr. Sandra said in the e-mail she sent to a few colleagues.
“I do not put any credence at all in the claim that this is friendly, transparent, aimed to be helpful, etc. It is a hostile move and the conclusions are already in. It is meant to be intimidating.”
Sr. Eva-Maria Ackerman, a Franciscan Martyr of St. George religious who is helping conduct the Apostolic Visitations, told the Catholic News Agency (CNA) that Mother Clare Millea is receiving quite a different reception. Mother Clare has been entrusted by the Vatican with carrying out the approximately 400 visits.
“Mother Clare has been impressed with the number of requests that have been made already and she has received a great deal of good feedback about the approach she is taking in this first phase of soliciting voluntary input.”
Sr. Eva-Maria also countered Sr. Sandra’s assertion that the Visitations are operating with foregone conclusions.
“Mother Clare is open to the Spirit’s guidance through this whole process and is focusing on each phase of the Visitation as it is scheduled. She has not drawn any conclusions but rather is desirous of hearing about the reality of each Congregation as it will be expressed by the Superiors General in the first phase,” she said.
Many U.S. Catholics are hoping the visitations will shed light on the widespread problem of women religious who are actively promoting New Age and other non-Christian practices in their convents and retreat houses. These practices include Reiki, yoga, various forms of divination such as the enneagram and astrology as well as promoting worship of the goddess Sophia.
Sr. Sandra is a good example of why these visitations are regarded by so many as a welcome relief. In her book, Beyond Patching: Faith and Feminism in the Catholic Church, she says that women have gone beyond wanting to be priests and are now questioning if God is really God.
“We are talking about whether the God of Judeo-Christian revelation is true God or just men-writ-large to legitimate their domination; whether Jesus, an historical male, is or can be messiah and savior for those who are not male; whether what the church has called sacraments are really encounters with Christ, or tools of male ritual abuse of women; whether what we have called church is a community of salvation or simply a male power structure.”
She considers the Bible “a human text, not an oracle. God did not dictate the Bible any more than God literally created the universe out of nothing in seven calendar days.”
Sr. Sandra certainly has reason to fear the visitations, but that’s not stopping her from making sure the visits are as painful as possible for the sisters who will conduct the visits.
“We cannot, of course, keep them from investigating,” Sr. Sandra wrote in her email. “But we can receive them, politely and kindly, for what they are – uninvited guests who should be received in the parlor, not given the run of the house. When people ask questions they shouldn’t ask, the questions should be answered accordingly.”
Mother Clare is currently hoping to finish scheduling meetings with the various Superiors General by March 15, and will begin her on-site visits in Los Angeles on June 2.
For the latest on the Apostolic Visitations, please visit http://www.apostolicvisitation.org/en/index.html
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