20 June 2010

Why is the LCWR covering up sexual abuse by sisters?

Fr. Z. rips into a NCR article about the allegedly superior "relational wisdom" of women and the Church's refusal to admit them into its hierarchical governance.   We've all heard ad nauseum the mantra, "If women could be priests, there would be no abuse scandal!"

Oh really?

Here are a few paragraphs from ecclesial gadfly Fr. Tom Doyle on the allegedly superior relational wisdom of the LCWR-crowd of sisters:

The sexual and physical abuse by nuns is far more widespread than most people are aware of. The nuns have been protected by the inability of most people to believe that such things were possible but I can assure you, they were possible and the reality is far worse than one could imagine.

In light of the highly visible and vocal support of most contemporary nuns, including their leadership in LCWR for victims of social injustice both inside and outside the Church, we would certainly expect that they would quickly respond openly, honestly and with compassion to victims of religious women. The opposite has been true. The religious congregations of women who have been sued have fought the victims with a viciousness that was equal to or exceeded that of many bishops. The LCWR has treated the victims who have tried to communicate with them in a disgraceful and downright unchristian manner. They have been as cold, as clerical, as arrogant and as dishonest as the bishops.

They have refused to even consider cleaning the mess in their own house. They have treated those who have brought the mess to their attention with cruelty and disdain. 

To quote Fr. Z., "Zowie!"  Zowie, indeed.  The LCWR has repeatedly refused to allow victims of sexual abuse by sisters to speak at their annual conferences.  Odd, the LCWR sisters constantly tells us that they are all about justice for the marginalized and the oppressed.  Sisters, justice starts at home.

So, the next time you hear a LCWR sister grousing about the hierarchy and it's Old Boys' Club mentality, send them an email reminding them that there's nothing special about women that prevents them from sexually abusing children.  This scandal is about HUMAN sin. . .not celibacy, or the all-male priesthood.  It's sin.  Plain and simple.


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7 comments:

  1. The LCWR has lost the ability to understand what sin is.

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  2. I, for one, do not think women are any better than men when it comes to doing good and doing evil. Nor do I think religious men and women or clergy are morally better than lay men and women. Moreover, I don't even think conservatives are holier than liberals. We are all children of Adam and Eve, are we not? We suffer the effects of original sin even though we are baptized.

    Is it only the LCWR sisters who do this sinning or are some of the sisters who belong to the CMSM guilty of these sins as well? Let's get all the sins against innocent children out on the table for conversation and atonement. Maybe someone ought to check out even the nuns who are cloistered. Let us leave no stone unturned.

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  3. Anonymous8:07 PM

    As I posted on WDTPRS, I suffered emotional, verbal, and psychological abuse at the hands of two "Sisters of Mercy" during my school years. The final year of high school was absolute hell at the hands of a teacher who seized on my weakness in math as a moral failing caused by inattention and lack of work. Untrue -- I just wasn't very good at math, and hard as I tried, my marks were never as good as those in Latin or French or any other subjects. She repeatedly castigated me in front of my classmates for what she saw as laziness and inattention, and even critiqued my musical performance in a year-end recital (she wasn't a musician). Fortunately, that year I did very well in the finals, and went on to obtain a degree at university. Nevertheless, the aftereffects of that year made themselves felt for a long time. My subsequent experiences have confirmed the belief that women can be just as vicious, cruel, and power-mad as their male counterparts. They can be more subtle -- ostracization and marginalization are regular items in their hellish "bag of tricks" -- but as a rule, the behaviour of women in groups is a far cry from the feminist ideal of "sisterhood". Sisterhood, my eye! I'm 63 now, and occasionally still struggle with the same issues as in that classroom far away during the school year 1962-63. Yes, that nun is still alive -- guess only the good die young.

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  4. Ruth Ann,

    Human sin is human sin. . .it knows no ideological or organization limits. You ate exactly right!

    However, by constantly carping at the Church's leaders to change truths that cannot be changed (no female priests) or practices that offend their political sensibilities (mandatory celibacy) and using the abuse scandal as ammo, the LCWR set themselves up as self-righteous targets.

    The reason they cannot/will not directly address sexual abuse in their ranks is purely political: they've used the scandals to score points against the hierarchy they despise--the all-male, celibate hierarchy. If they admit that there are abusers and enablers in their ranks, then all their anti-patriarchal, pro-sexual revolution agitation comes to nothing. This is the same reason the MSM will not focus attention on the scandal of public school teacher abuse, or the abuse of ministers in other religions.

    The all-male, celibate Catholic priesthood is the target, so nothing is allowed to distract the sniper.

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  5. Wow! This is so revealing! Thanks for posting this Padre. I find it amazing that Fr. Doyle was actually able to write something that actually was a good read.

    At Anonymous: I'm sorry that you had that experience with the Sisters of Mercy. I hope you were able to find some peace from all of that distress and pain. God love you! :-)

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  6. Anonymous8:18 AM

    No, Father Powell. LCWR has set themsevles up as self-righteous hypocrites not "targets."

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  7. Sharon1:01 AM

    Maybe someone ought to check out even the nuns who are cloistered.

    Is it very likely that a cloistered nun would have access to children in order to abuse them?

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