Hi Wayne,<div><br></div><div>Thanks for posting this. I just wanted Visionaries to know that the Vatican Office of the<span style> Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith</span> used to be called the Inquisition. The current pope was at one time the Grand Inquisitor for searching out all doctrinal errors. There won't be any burnings at the stake, but these nuns will undoubtedly be condemned as heretics. A sad day in the history of Christianity.</div>
<div><br></div><div>My heart is with these courageous women,</div><div><br></div><div>Nick<br><div><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Apr 19, 2012 at 3:21 PM, Art Deco <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:art.deco.studios@gmail.com">art.deco.studios@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div><div>
<div><div><div>
<div><font size="6"><b>Vatican orders crackdown on US nun association</b></font></div>
<p>By RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion Writer
–
<span>20 hours ago</span>
<span><span style="min-height:15px;width:70px;display:inline-block;text-indent:0pt;margin:0pt;padding:0pt;background:none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent;border-style:none;float:none;line-height:normal;font-size:1px;vertical-align:baseline"></span></span>
</p>
<p>The Vatican orthodoxy watchdog announced Wednesday a full-scale
overhaul of the largest umbrella group for nuns in the United States,
accusing the group of taking positions that undermine Roman Catholic
teaching on the priesthood and homosexuality while promoting "certain
radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith."</p><p>An
American archbishop was appointed to oversee reform of the Leadership
Conference of Women Religious, which will include rewriting the group's
statutes, reviewing all its plans and programs -- including approving
speakers -- and ensuring the organization properly follows Catholic
prayer and ritual.</p><p>The Leadership Conference, based in Silver
Spring, Md., represents about 57,000 religious sisters and offers
programs ranging from leadership training for women's religious orders
to advocacy on social justice issues. Representatives of the Leadership
Conference did not respond to requests for comment.</p><p>The report
from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said the
organization faced a "grave" doctrinal crisis, in which issues of
"crucial importance" to the church, such as abortion and euthanasia,
have been ignored. Vatican officials also castigated the group for
making some public statements that "disagree with or challenge positions
taken by the bishops," who are the church's authentic teachers of faith
and morals."</p><p>Church officials did not cite a specific example of
those public statements, but said the reform would include a review of
ties between the Leadership Conference and NETWORK, a Catholic social
justice lobby. NETWORK played a key role in supporting the Obama
administration's health care overhaul despite the bishops' objections
that the bill would provide government funding for abortion. The
Leadership Conference disagreed with the bishops' analysis of the law
and also supported President Barack Obama's plan.</p><p>Sister Simone
Campbell, executive director of NETWORK, said in a phone interview that
the timing of the report suggested a link between their health care
stand and the Vatican crackdown. The review began in 2009 and ran
through June 2010, a few months after the health care law was approved.
The report does not cite Obama or the bill.</p><p>"I can only infer that
there was strong feeling about the health care position that we had
taken," Campbell said. "Our position on health care was application of
the one faith to a political document that we read differently than the
bishops."</p><p>When the Vatican-ordered inquiry was initially
announced, many religious sisters and their supporters said the
investigation reflected church officials' misogyny and was an insult to
religious sisters, who run hospitals, teach, and play other vital
service roles in the church. Conservative Catholics, however, have long
complained that the majority of sisters in the U.S. have grown too
liberal and flout church teaching.</p><p>Around the same time of the
doctrinal review of the Leadership Conference, the Vatican ordered an
Apostolic Visitation, or investigation, of all American congregations
for religious sisters, looking at quality of life, the response to
dissent and "the soundness of doctrine held and taught" by the women.
The results of that inquiry have not been released.</p><p>The report
released Wednesday paints a scathing portrait of the Leadership
Conference of Women's Religious as consistently violating Catholic
teaching.</p><p>Investigators cited a speech by Sister Laurie Brink at
an annual assembly that argued that religious sisters were "'moving
beyond the church' or even beyond Jesus." Brink is a professor at the
Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. She did not respond to an email
request for comment.</p><p>The Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith said the Leadership Conference had submitted letters that suggest
that sisters in leadership teams "collectively take a position not in
agreement with the church's teaching on human sexuality."</p><p>In
programs and presentations, investigators noted "a prevalence of certain
radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith."</p><p>"Some
commentaries on 'patriarchy' distort the way in which Jesus has
structured sacramental life in the church," the authors of the report
wrote. The investigation also found that while the Leadership Conference
has emphasized Catholic social justice doctrine, the group has been
"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.</p><p>The reform will be managed by Seattle Archbishop Peter Sartain and could stretch over five years.</p><p>Nick
Cafardi, a canon lawyer and former dean of Duqesne Law School, said he
has worked over the years with many nuns and that the description in the
report does not reflect his experience with them. Cafardi is an Obama
supporter.</p><p>"I don't know any more holy people," Cafardi said of
American religious sisters. "I see a lot more holiness in the convents
than I see in the chancery."</p>
<p><span>Copyright © 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
</span></p></div>
<div><div><h4>Related articles</h4>
<ul><li><a href="http://blogs.voanews.com/breaking-news/2012/04/19/vatican-orders-overhaul-of-us-nun-group/" target="_blank">Vatican Orders Overhaul of US Nun Group</a>
<br>
<span>Voice of America (blog)</span>
-
5 hours ago</li><li><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jSwNVKlhdTG4M_LkYGjGmAHQZOLw?docId=CNG.e7ba6bdae21b774766f36c7f3c785aa1.61" target="_blank">Vatican condemns American nuns for liberal stances</a>
<br>
<span>AFP</span>
-
6 hours ago</li><li><a href="http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/04/19/vatican-takes-on-u-s-nuns-over-gays-and-all-male-priesthood/" target="_blank">Vatican takes on US nuns over gays and all-male priesthood</a>
<br>
<span>National Post</span>
-
6 hours ago</li><li><a href="http://news.google.com/news/story?ncl=dlx1y23jx9flozMbaxZpQItVf5j2M&hl=en&ned=us" target="_blank">More coverage
(1) »</a></li></ul></div>
</div>
<div><div><a href="http://www.google.com/ig/add?feedurl=http://news.google.com/news?num%3D10%26output%3Datom%26hl%3Den&hl=en" target="_blank"><img alt="Add News to your iGoogle Homepage"></a>
<a href="http://www.google.com/ig/add?feedurl=http://news.google.com/news?num%3D10%26output%3Datom%26hl%3Den&hl=en" target="_blank">Add News to your Google Homepage</a></div></div></div></div>
<div><div><img alt="The Associated Press"></div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div><div><span>©2012 Google</span>
<span>-
<a href="http://news.google.com/intl/en/about_google_news.html" target="_blank">About Google News</a>
-
<a href="http://googlenewsblog.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Blog</a>
-
<a href="http://www.google.com/support/news/?hl=en" target="_blank">Help Center</a>
-
<a href="http://www.google.com/support/news_pub/?hl=en" target="_blank">Help for Publishers</a>
-
<a href="http://news.google.com/intl/en/terms_google_news.html" target="_blank">Terms of Use</a>
-
<a href="http://www.google.com/intl/en/privacy.html" target="_blank">Privacy Policy</a>
-
<a href="http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en" target="_blank">Google Home</a></span></div></div>
<div style="display:block;background:none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(51,0,51);padding:7px 10px;color:rgb(255,255,255);border:2px solid rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration:none!important;text-align:left;font:13px Arial,Helvetica;border-radius:5px 5px 5px 5px;text-transform:none;width:auto">
<span style="font-size:0px">Ghostery has found the following on this page:</span><span style="display:inline;color:rgb(119,119,119);text-decoration:line-through">Google Adsense</span><br style="display:block!important"><span style="display:inline;color:rgb(119,119,119);text-decoration:line-through">Google Analytics</span><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br style="display:block!important">
</font></span></div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)<br><a href="mailto:art.deco.studios@gmail.com" target="_blank">art.deco.studios@gmail.com</a><br>
</font></span><br>=======================================================<br>
List services made available by First Step Internet,<br>
serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.<br>
<a href="http://www.fsr.net" target="_blank">http://www.fsr.net</a><br>
mailto:<a href="mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com">Vision2020@moscow.com</a><br>
=======================================================<br></blockquote></div><br></div></div>