17 June 2010

Crdl George, the Sisters, and a Pseudo Rant

Bear with me as I rant. . .there is a point in here, somewhere:

(CNN) -- The head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said this week that a group of nuns who broke ranks with the powerful conference on health care reform in March is responsible for the controversial legislation's passage.

"Sister Carol and her colleagues are to blame," Cardinal Francis George is quoted as saying in a Catholic News Agency report Wednesday.

[. . .]

Wow.  This is not the usual sort of carefully crafted bureaucrat-speak we've come to expect from the USCCB.   The Good Cardinal is speaking Truth to Power here.  

Make no mistake:  the sisters who supported B.O.Care are not the cheery, put-upon drudges that the MSM is making them out to be.  Sr. Keehan rakes in about $900,000 a year as head of the Catholic Hospital Association.  The women's congregations represented by the LCWR and its overtly political arm, NETWORK, certainly have sisters who fit the MSM description, but the problem with 90% of American women congregations is not the vast majority of sisters who make up the bulk of the workforce, but their leadership.  

I've been told many times by many sisters that their congregational leaders do not represent the views of most sisters on hot button issues.  Layers of congregational bureaucracy, multiple national and international associations, "consensus decision-making," ideological formation, and pressure to conform to the community's unitary voice have all made it difficult for any sort of internal opposition to organize.  IOW, sisters who disagree with their leaders are effectively silenced.  

I''m not suggesting here that congregational leaders are consciously suppressing internal dissent. I know of no program or scheme to ostracize sisters who oppose their elected leaders.  There's no nefarious conspiracy here.  What I am suggesting is that the culture of American women religious strongly discourages internal opposition through a variety of mechanisms designed to establish and present One View to the Church and the world.  This shouldn't surprise us given that most groups do this sort thing, including men's religious congregations.  The most effective mechanism in creating the illusion of seamless assent is the so-called "consensus decision-making" process that disallows rational discourse in favor of emotional expression, thus side-stepping potentially discomforting practices like debate and voting on issues.  How one feels about an issue is deemed vastly more important than what one thinks about the issue.  Voting might expose real divisions and hold up action.

So, what's my point?  It's this:  when the LCWR and similar groups express dissident opinions on issues that our bishops have pronounced on, do not assume that all or even a majority of the sisters the group claims to represent hold the dissident view.  The best we can assume is that leadership "heard the sisters saying X" during discussions about the issue.  I've been in many meetings of religious where complex responses to even more complex issues have been reduced to meaningless three or four word bullet points.  The Robert's Rules approach to decision-making is cumbersome, often confusing, and time-consuming.  But the alternative is equally frustrating.  There's nothing more aggravating than to spend three hours discussing a complex problem only to see the wide variety of views congealed into a list of innocuous half-sentences that no reasonable person would dispute.   

I just hate to see all our sisters blamed for the dissident opinions of their leaders.

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5 comments:

  1. The Dominican Peace and Justice Promoters are as bad or worse.

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  2. Anonymous9:40 PM

    Response rant, pt II

    …. the illusion of seamless assent is the so-called "consensus decision-making" process that disallows rational discourse in favor of emotional expression, thus side-stepping potentially discomforting practices like debate and voting on issues.
    VOTING MEANS WINNERS AND LOSERS AND IT IS A POLITICAL TOOL. DISCERNING GOD’S DIRECTION IS A GOSPEL/FAITH TOOL, INVOLVING EMOTION AND RATIONALITY, YES, BUT YEARS AND YEARS OF PRAYER AND LISTENING TO GOD AND FAITH-PERSEVERANCE AS WELL. I REALLY WOULDN’T WANT TO LIVE OUT A COMMUNAL DIRECTION SET WITH 49% OF THE GROUP SEEING THEMSELVES AS LOSERS -EVEN IN SELECTING LEADERS, A DISCERNMENT PROCESS LEADS UP TO THE MOMENT OF VOTE.

    Voting might expose real divisions and hold up action.
    AND BE REALLY, REALLY POLITICAL… AND MAKE FOR MORE DIVISIONS AND NEGATIVE ACTION (CF: THE U.S. TEA PARTY GROUP)

    …. do not assume that all or even a majority of the sisters the group (GROUP: DO YOU MEAN LEADER?) claims to represent hold the dissident view.
    SOUNDS A LOT LIKE ANARCHY TO ME….AND THE COMMUNITIES OF THIS COUNTRY ARE ANYTHING BUT ANARCHISTIC IN MY EXPERIENCE.

    … complex responses to even more complex issues have been reduced to meaningless three or four word bullet points.
    AS ARE ALL REPORTS OF SIGNIFICANT EVENTS. FOR THOSE PRESENT, NO MORE IS NEEDED. FOR THOSE NOT PRESENT, VOLUMES COULD NOT CONVEY ALL THAT WENT ON.

    The Robert's Rules approach to decision-making ….

    I just hate to see all our sisters blamed for the dissident opinions of their leaders.
    LEADERS WOULDN’T BE LEADERS WITHOUT THE SISTERS SUPPORT. SOUNDS LIKE YOU SEE LEADERS AS A GROUP TO BE QUITE INSIDIOUS, MANIPULATIVE (IT MAKES ME WONDER WHETHER IT’S A VIEWPOINT COLORED BY YOUR EXPERIENCES OF AUTHORITY?). HOW CAN SO FEW MANIPULATE SO MANY IN THIS DAY AND AGE WITHOUT THE REALITY COMING TO LIGHT OVER TIME?

    ARE YOU POINTING THE FINGER AT LCWR, A COLLABORATING GROUP OF LEADERS (WHO HAVE NO POWER TO SET AGENDAS IN COMMUNITIES)???

    THREADS OF DISCONTENT ABOUT POWER, AUTHORITY AND LEADERSHIP WEAVE THROUGH YOUR RANT. RANT IF YOU WILL, BUT PLEASE, CHECK YOUR FACTS. YOU DO NO SERVICE TO YOURSELF IF YOU DON’T. AND YOUR RANT MIGHT EVAPORATE IN THE LIGHT OF TRUTH.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous9:40 PM

    Response rant, part I


    ONE GOOD RANT DESERVES ANOTHER, NO? PSEUDO OR NOT!

    Crdl George, the Sisters, and a Pseudo Rant

    ……"Sister Carol and her colleagues are to blame," Cardinal Francis George is quoted …
    AND BY CHOOSING THIS ONE QUOTE, THE CHOICE IS MADE NOT TO CHOOSE THE MORE POSITIVE TACK WHICH BOTH BISHOPS AND HEALTH CARE REPRESENTATIVES ARE TRYING TO PUT FORWARD. (SEE http://ncronline.org/news/elephants-room-catholic-health-care-debate)
    [. . .]

    Wow. This is not the usual sort of carefully crafted bureaucrat-speak we've come to expect from the USCCB. The Good Cardinal is speaking Truth to Power here.
    HUMMM….TRUTH TO POWER? A RATHER ADVERSARIAL PHRASE ESPECIALLY WHEN THE BISHOPS THEMSELVES ARE NOT TRYING TO BE ADVERSARIAL. AND IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH, BY ALLUDING TO SALARY, YOU SEEM TO EQUATE POWER WITH MONEY. UNUSUAL VIEWPOINT FOR A RELIGIOUS…..

    … not the cheery, put-upon drudges that the MSM is making them out to be. THANKS TO THE PRE-VATICAN II SISTER FORMATION MOVEMENT, THOSE DRUDGES ARE USUALLY WELL EDUCATED, SOMETIMES TO A GREATER DEGREE THAN THOSE WITH WHOM THERE SEEMS TO BE CONFLICT. THE HEALTHCARE SYSTEM IN THE U.S. WAS BUILT IN SIGNIFICANT PART BY THE COURAGE AND INGENUITY OF THE DRUDGES.

    Sr. Keehan rakes in about $900,000 a year as head of the Catholic Hospital Association. The women's congregations represented by the LCWR and its overtly political arm, NETWORK….
    DO YOU REALLY KNOW WHAT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LCWR AND NETWORK IS? IT APPEARS NOT.

    ….. not the vast majority of sisters who make up the bulk of the workforce, but their leadership. I've been told many times by many sisters that their congregational leaders do not represent the views of most sisters on hot button issues.
    HOW MANY IS “MANY SISTERS”? THERE ARE 59,000 IN THE U.S. -ON WHAT BASIS DO “MANY” CATEGORIZE THEIR LEADERS THAT WAY. ALWAYS THERE IS DIVERSITY …BUT THE NUMBER OF MALCONTENTS IS SMALL IN MY EXPERIENCE IN 50 YEARS OF RELIGIOUS LIFE.

    Layers of congregational bureaucracy, (LESS NEED OF LAYERS AS WE DOWNSIZE) multiple national and international associations, (RELEVANCE?) "consensus decision-making," ideological formation, (IDEOLOGICAL OR THEOLOGICAL OR SCRIPTURAL?) and pressure to conform to the community's unitary voice (REALLY, IS THERE ONE?) have all made it difficult for any sort of internal opposition to organize. IOW, sisters who disagree with their leaders are effectively silenced.
    NOT IN MY EXPERIENCE AT CHAPTERS!!! THEY ARE VOCAL BUT DISCERNMENT IS A VERY REAL VALUE BY ALMOST ALL SISTERS I’VE EXPERIENCED. DON’T WE CHRISTIANS ALL STRUGGLE TO SEE AND DO GOD’S WILL VIS-À-VIS BEING “POLITICAL”? (A.K.A WANTING TO CONTROL?)

    ….. the culture of American women religious strongly discourages internal opposition through a variety of mechanisms designed to establish and present One View to the Church and the world.
    ONE VIEW? IS THAT GOOD OR BAD? WHAT ONE VIEW? DO YOU REALLY THINK ANYONE COULD, THROUGH ANY VARIETY OF MECHANISMS, CONTROL THE THOUSANDS OF RELIGIOUS WOMEN IN THIS COUNTRY AND AROUND THE WORLD (NOT TO MENTION MEN) ENOUGH TO PRESENT ONE VIEW OF THE CHURCH AND WORLD? BESIDES, VATICAN II ALREADY GAVE THE PEOPLE OF GOD A ‘ONE VIEW’, THOUGH SOME WOULD WISH IT HADN’T.

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  4. Anonymous11:42 AM

    Re rant pt I and Pt II
    I see that only rants from one side are acceptable. Today's gospel: by their fruit you shall know them.

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  5. Anon., sorry to disappoint your need for martrydom. . .I'm traveling and internet access is very limited.

    ReplyDelete