The Pope has appointed an American bishop to “rein in” activities and views of a group of progressive Sisters.
The Leadership Conference of Women Religious, known as the most influential group of Catholic nuns in the US, is criticized for what the Church calls a “prevalence of radical feminist themes” that conflict with the Catholic faith.
Apparently it doesn’t take much to perturb the Pope - like focusing too much on poverty and social injustice, while failing to bash abortion and same-sex marriage. The reprimand surprised group director Sister Campbell, who said she suspects disagreement with bishops over health care reform initiated it.
Supporters call the reprimand, which has escalated into an inquisition and censorship on future issues, an insult to women who “play such vital service roles in the Church.” What it really boils down to is that the Vatican remains in the Dark Ages where women’s rights are concerned.
Tell the Vatican to Leave Nuns Alone and let them do their jobs.
We, the undersigned, find your treatment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious backward, as well as insulting.
Can you not imagine that outsiders might question what kind of religion would publicly devalue women to the extent that it would not even allow independent thought - the right to simply disagree with male members of that organization?
Your actions toward this group clearly represent a mindset of suppression of women’s rights that has prevailed in the Catholic Church, while other denominations and religions have progressed beyond this tyranny.
With the scandalous behavior of so many priest, the Catholic Church should be giving its nuns credit for being perhaps the main reason the Church has survived this crisis. Certainly they deserve more respect than what amounts to a fifteenth-century inquisition.
We request that you leave this group of respectable, religious, and apparently intelligent members of the Church to their important work, without further interference.
