• Pope Francis reiterates 'radical feminist' criticism of US nuns' group

    Max Rossi / Reuters

    Pope Francis, shown Sunday, reaffirmed the church's official criticism of the group representing most U.S. nuns as having 'radical feminist' doctrine.

    By Philip Pullella, Reuters

    VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis has reaffirmed the Vatican's criticism of a body that represents U.S. nuns that the Church said was tainted by "radical" feminism, dashing hopes that he might take a softer stand with the sisters.

    Francis's predecessor, Benedict, decreed that the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), a group that represents more than 80 percent of the 57,000 Catholic nuns in the United States, must change its ways, a ruling that the Vatican said on Monday still applied.

    Last year, a Vatican report said the LCWR had "serious doctrinal problems" and promoted "radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith," criticizing it for taking a soft line on issues such as birth control and homosexuality.

    The nuns received wide support among American Catholics, particularly on the liberal wing of the church, as LCWR leaders travelled around the United States in a bus to defend themselves against the accusations.

    On Monday the group's leaders met Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, the new head of the Vatican's doctrinal department, and Archbishop Peter Sartain of Seattle, who has been assigned by the Vatican to correct the group's perceived failings.

    "Archbishop Mueller informed the (LCWR) presidency that he had recently discussed the doctrinal assessment with Pope Francis, who reaffirmed the findings of the assessment and the program of reform, " the Vatican's statement said.

    The Vatican reminded the group that it would "remain under the direction of the Holy See," the statement said.

    It was the nuns' first meeting with Mueller, who succeeded American Cardinal William Levada as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Levada, who retired last year, oversaw the Vatican's investigation of the U.S. nuns.

    A statement from the LCWR said the "conversation was open and frank" and added: "We pray that these conversations may bear fruit for the good of the Church."

    In April 2012, the doctrinal department criticized the LCWR for challenging bishops and for being "silent on the right to life," saying it had failed to make the "Biblical view of family life and human sexuality" a central plank of its agenda.

    The nuns supported President Barack Obama's health-care reform, part of which makes insurance coverage of birth control mandatory, while U.S. bishops opposed it.

    Many nuns said the Vatican's report misunderstood their intentions and undervalued their work for social justice.

    Supporters of the nuns said the women had helped the image of the church in the United States at a time when it was engulfed in scandal over sexual abuse of minors by priests. They were praised by many fellow Catholics and the media for their work with the poor and sick.

    Monday's Vatican statement expressed gratitude for the "great contribution" American Catholic nuns had made in teaching and caring for the sick and poor.

    Related:

    Pope: Hypocrisy 'undermines church's credibility'

    Lapsed Catholics lured back by Pope Francis

    Pope orders church to act 'decisively' to stop abuse

     

  • US nuns call for more dialogue with the Vatican

    Seth Perlman / AP

    Outgoing President of The Leadership Conference of Women Religious Sister Pat Farrell, right, and president-elect Sister Florence Deacon, left, listen to questions from reporters Friday in St. Louis.

    By Becky Bratu, NBC News

    American nuns under fire from the Vatican said they will continue their dialogue with Catholic bishops "for as long as possible," the group announced Friday as it wrapped a week of discussions and prayer at its yearly national assembly in St. Louis, Mo.


     

    According to the National Catholic Reporter, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, an umbrella organization representing about 80 percent of the 57,000 nuns in the United States, "will reconsider if [they are] forced to compromise the integrity of [their] mission."

    Hours before the scheduled press conference, the organization's president addressed its members, urging the sisters to be “truthful, but gentle and absolutely fearless," according to the National Catholic Reporter.

    'We're with you, sisters': Nuns amazed by outpouring of support

    Seth Perlman / AP

    Joe Koerner and his wife, Maria Allen Koerner, of St. Louis, rally with other supporters of The Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) at a vigil Thursday in St. Louis.

    Franciscan Sister Pat Farrell added that “some larger movement in the church… has landed on LCWR." She ended her speech with a phrase she said she had learned in Chile, according to the NCR: “They can crush a few flowers, but they cannot hold back the springtime.”

    This spring, after a three-year investigation, the Vatican's doctrinal watchdog issued a report questioning the organization's loyalty to some Church teachings, including the nuns' lack of outspokenness on issues such as gay marriage, abortion and contraception.

    After blistering Vatican report, nuns gather to weigh response

    Another concern voiced by the Vatican related to nuns' conferences featuring "a prevalence of certain radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith."

    On April 18, the Vatican appointed Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle to oversee the nuns' organization and reform its programs to adhere more closely to "the teachings and discipline of the Church."

    Watch US News videos on NBCNews.com

    This week, about 900 Catholic sisters discussed a range of responses to the criticism, from accepting the Vatican's mandate to starting a new organization independent of the church's control.

    In a Thursday interview with EWTN, a Catholic television network, Cardinal Raymond Burke, prefect of the Vatican’s Apostolic Signatura, warned that the Leadership Conference could be shut down if it rejects the Vatican's mandate for reform.

    “If it can’t be reformed, then it doesn’t have a right to continue,” Burke said, according to LifeSiteNews.com.

    “How in the world can these consecrated religious who have professed to follow Christ more closely … be opposed to what the Vicar of Christ is asking? This is a contradiction,” he added.

    Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter

    More content from NBCNews.com:

    Follow US News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

     

  • 'We're with you, sisters': Nuns amazed by outpouring of support

    EPA/Larry Coyne

    Sister Mary Rose Crowley, from Windsor, Conn., makes the sign of the cross at the end of a morning Mass on the opening day of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the largest group of Catholic nuns in the United States, in St. Louis, Mo.

    By Becky Bratu, NBC News

    More than 900 Roman Catholic nuns gathering in St. Louis, Mo., this week to discuss the future of their relationship with the Vatican were surprised to be greeted by supporters with a simple message on their signs: "We're with you, sisters."



    "It's utterly amazing to all of us, really," Sister Annmarie Sanders, director of communications for the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, told NBC News. 

    "They're having vigils every night," she added. "We've received... I think it's almost 1,500 letters that have been collected so they can distribute them to our members -- all letters of support."

    The Leadership Conference, which represents about 80 percent of the 57,000 nuns in the United States, is holding its yearly national assembly this week following scathing criticism from the Vatican of the nuns' alleged lack of fidelity to Catholic teachings.

    Their supporters say they were shocked by the crackdown.

    "Our phones were ringing off the hook at our organization," Erin Saiz Hanna, spokesperson for the Nun Justice Project and executive director of the Women’s Ordination Conference, told NBC News. "Our members were just outraged, they wanted something to do."

    The Nun Justice Project, a grassroots coalition of Catholic organizations, started the day after the Vatican released its mandate as a petition created on Change.org. 

    "The goal was to have 57,000 signers on the petition -- one name for every sister in the U.S. -- and we surpassed that," Hanna said. The group delivered the petition to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

    Courtesy of Nun Justice Project

    Two women march in support of Catholic nuns in Chicago in August 2012.

    This spring, after a three-year investigation, the Vatican's doctrinal watchdog issued a report questioning the organization's loyalty to some Church teachings, including the nuns' lack of outspokenness on issues such as gay marriage, abortion and contraception.

    Another concern voiced by the Vatican relates to conferences organized by the nuns featuring "a prevalence of certain radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith."

    After blistering Vatican report, nuns gather to weigh response

    On April 18, the Vatican appointed Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle to oversee the nuns' organization and reform its programs to adhere more closely to "the teachings and discipline of the church."

    Since then, the Nun Justice Project has organized more than 100 vigils across the country, 37 of which took place Tuesday night. At one vigil, Hanna said, someone had driven two and a half hours just to spend two hours supporting the sisters.

    "I've been blown away by the support," said Hanna, who is also an associate with the Sisters of Mercy and says nuns have been her role models in life. "People really relate to the sisters."

    The coalition also asked American Catholics to redirect their annual Peter's Pence contributions from the Vatican to their local communities of women religious. 

    "We were able to redirect $100,000 from that Peter's Pence," Hanna said. "People were able to choose the community that they wanted to redirect their funds to."

    David Goldman / AP

    Princess Wilson, center, joins a demonstration in support of U.S. Catholic nuns outside the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' biannual meeting on June 13, 2012, in Atlanta.

    This week, the nuns will pray together and discuss a range of options for the future, from accepting the Vatican's mandate to starting a new organization independent of the church's control. 

    US priests reportedly behind Vatican crackdown on nuns

    Sanders said the nuns are expected to announce their decision at a press conference Friday afternoon. 

    No matter what the women religious decide in St. Louis, Hanna says she believes a new Catholic Church is being formed. 

    "People are really with the sisters here, they look to their leadership and they model the leadership that they want to see in our church," she said. "I think people just have a lot of hope in the sisters right now."

    Jim FitzGerald, executive director of the Catholic organization Call To Action, which is also part of the Nun Justice Project, told NBC News there is a growing disconnect between the Vatican and the nuns.

    "It's really two different world views," he said. "It's the Vatican, that is very concerned with how Catholics follow rules and you have the perspective from the women religious and how they live out the gospel values."

    A vigil is planned for Thursday night in St. Louis, and the nuns will try to be present to greet their supporters. 

    "We are a faith where we believe that with God all things are possible," FitzGerald said, "and I would like to think that those who are seeing the incredible support around the country for the sisters would be moved by that support and be a little more reflective about their actions."

    More content from NBCNews.com:

    Follow US News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

     


  • Clash of the titans: Vatican takes on reforming US nuns

    LCWR, Tony Gentile / Reuters, file

    Sister Janet Mock, executive director of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), is among a delegation meeting Cardinal William Joseph Levada on Tuesday.

    By Claudio Lavanga, NBC News

    ROME - What do American nuns do when they are accused of being radical feminists? They respond as radical feminists might: by challenging the male authority face-to-face.  

    Sister Pat Farrell, head of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), the umbrella group that represents 80 percent of the U.S.'s 57,000 Catholic nuns, traveled to Rome to confront accusations that her organization promotes "radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith." 

    Farrell met American Cardinal William Levada, head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, on Tuesday.  The gathering was aimed at reconciling their differences, but it has the potential to permanently alienate many American nuns from the Holy See. 

    From the beginning, the meeting was fixing to be a titanic clash between strong-willed servants of God.  

    On one side next to Farrell sat Sister Janet Mock, the group’s executive director.

    Opposite them, Cardinal Levada was joined by Vatican-appointed Archbishop Peter Sartain, who has been named to oversee the overhaul of the the LCWR.  Sartain has been given the power to rewrite the group's statutes, its meeting agendas and liturgical texts. 

    US priests reportedly behind Vatican crackdown on nuns

    Alessandro Speciale, the Vatican Correspondent for Religion News Service, said the discussions – held in private – were unlikely to have been amicable.

    The Catholic Church accused the nation's largest organization of American nuns of espousing "radical feminist" ideas. MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell discusses the charges with Sister Jeannine Gramick, who was once silenced by the Vatican, and Jeff Stone, communications director of Dignity USA.

    "It will (have been) a deaf argument," he told NBC News.  "They will both try to force their message across, but it's unlikely to be a friendly chat."  

    Both sides emerged from Tuesday's meeting without giving much away. 

    Farrell told journalists outside the Vatican she had an "open dialogue" with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and found the support in America "very affirming."

    Likewise, the Vatican did not go into much detail on the meeting's outcome, but said the gathering had happened in an "atmosphere of openness and cordiality."  

    Catholic nuns group 'stunned' by Vatican scolding for 'radical feminist' ideas

    What is almost certain is that Farrell, a determined representative of thousands of American nuns, asked Levada to reconsider the damning assessment his office issued about her group. The report followed a two-year investigation into the nuns' outspoken social and political outreach, which has often differed from the Vatican's official position.

    Tensions between the American nuns and the Vatican have been simmering for years, and stem from the open discussion among LCWR's members of sensitive issues such as gay marriage, contraception and on the ordination of women.

    On April 18, the Vatican harshly criticized the group, and accused it in a statement of perpetuating "a distorted ecclesiological vision, and (having) scant regard for the role of the Magisterium as the guarantor of the authentic interpretation of the Church's Faith."

    Magisterium, the official teaching authority of the Catholic Church, is made-up of the pope and bishops.  Ecclesiological refers to the nature and functions of the church.

    Catholic heavyweights challenge Obama rule on contraception

    In his first ever Twitter message, Pope Benedict XVI announced a new online portal that aggregates the Vatican's various media on one website. The Tweet from the pope was sent from and ipad.

    The Vatican then appointed a trio of bishops to deal with the differences with the LCWR.  

    The LCWR's official response came more than a month later, but it was just as strong-worded.

    The nuns said that the Vatican's charges are based "on unsubstantiated accusations and the result of a flawed process that lacked transparency. Moreover, the sanctions imposed were disproportionate to the concerns raised and could compromise their ability to fulfill their mission. The report has furthermore caused scandal and pain throughout the church community, and created greater polarization."

    Whatever happened behind closed doors at the Vatican on Tuesday, the meeting will eventually help the world's estimated 1.2 billion Catholics understand whether the Vatican and the American nuns can reach a compromise – or, as seems more likely, remain poles apart.  

    More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

    Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world