10 May 2013

No, Sister, the nature of authority and obedience hasn't changed since Vatican II. . .

Francis Throws Down the Gauntlet to Religious

Pope Francis has begun his assault against the secularization of religious life, attacking the late-20th century tendency to separate religious commitment from the Church in order to serve the spirit of the world. We have seen this tendency in the shift to purely secular service among women religious, accompanied by New Age spirituality and feminist careerism.

[. . .]

Although Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul II, and Pope Benedict XVI all attempted to foster a spirit of true renewal in communities of consecrated life around the world, progress among the badly infected orders has been like the proverbial pulling of teeth—with excuses for delay and, if delay fails, then kicking and screaming. The latest evidence of the widespread rebellion against the Church was found in the effort of Sister Mary Lou Wirtz, President of the International Union of Superiors General, to derail the reform of the Leadership Conference for Women Religious last Tuesday. Sister Mary Lou claimed that the nature of authority and obedience had changed since Vatican II, that the LCWR wanted to focus on what “Gospel leadership” means today, and that the Vatican was clearly not interested in that topic.

[. . .]

But Pope Francis cannot be fooled in this. He has experienced the rot in religious life first-hand; he was marginalized by his Jesuit Superiors as a young priest, just as true men and women of the Church in so many religious orders have been for the past two generations [. . .] Will he shift from words to discipline?

We don’t know yet, but it has not taken him long to respond to Sister Mary Lou or to go on the offensive verbally in a tone which sounds suspiciously like he is ready to lay down the law. The Pope received the plenary assembly of the International Union of Superiors General in audience the day after its president gave her ill-conceived interview to Vatican Radio. The complete text is available under a striking title, Careerists and Climbers Doing “Great Harm” to the Church. Francis struck at the very heart of the religious malaise today, while responding pointedly to the leader of the IUSG. . .

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7 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:47 PM

    It's time someone did the "no more mister nice guy." This false type of commitment has to be stopped once and for all. That lifestyle is not about serving God and the Church, it's about ego.

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    1. Narcissism, entitlement, careerism, cliquishness. . .yup.

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    2. "Narcissism, entitlement, careerism, cliquishness." Wait, are we talking religious congregations or chanceries?

      I bet plenty from each won't enjoy the pontificate of Pope Francis; he knows too much about both religious congregations and chanceries.

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    3. Gregg the Obscure9:29 AM

      There's only one order that has been described by the phrase "nunquam reformata quia nunquam deformata". Of course some attempts at reform need to be reformed themselves, particularly those that seek to conform religious life to the fads of secular culture.

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    4. +F is uniquely qualified to Bring the Broom to religious life. The history of religious life is littered with periods of laxity and corruption. At one point, the OP's in Europe had to be divided into Conventual and Observant convents in order to prevent a full-scale Franciscan-like schism. Religious life is the US since VC2 is not a singular phenomenon in Church history. . .we've been here many, many times.

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  2. What saddens me the most about the LCWR is that they don't seem to realize the damage to the Church and the laity that their egoism has done. It's more important for them to have positions of "perceived power" in the Church than to focus on the wonderful gift of their vocation as religious women. Some wise person once said, "you can do anything, but not everything."

    If they spent half as much time praying as they do whining, what a wonderful world it would be!

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    Replies
    1. True. But praying won't get you the attention you crave from the world.

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