Yesterday I discovered RSS feeds. For those of you who don’t know, this is a way to feed into the most up-to-date information from another site and have it show up on your blog.
I thought this was really cool and I wanted to do it. Another Sister suggested to me that I try the LCWR site. LCWR stands for Leadership Conference of Women Religious. It was founded in 1956 to help its members to carry out their service of leadership and further the mission of the Gospel in today’s world. (http://www.lcwr.org) I am happy to say that it worked and you can find it down on the left.
In looking for this LCWR feed, I was surprised to run across a blog that attacks the LCWR (and member communities) for its attempt to apply Catholic Social Teaching to the issues facing our nation and world today. The assertion seems to be 
that the LCWR is a misguided organization that has abandoned its Catholic identity in its drive to advance a liberal agenda.
The site lists many of LCWR’s published statements from the last 6 or 7 years and says that it is because of ideas and attitudes like this that we have few vocations. The comments made in response to this were mostly negative to the LCWR (18 out of 20) and many were remarkably hostile. Common among the comments was a sense of dismay over the lack of mention of the Pope, and the continual attention to “things of this passing world”. One person called the statements of the LCWR “pathetic dribble”.
T
hey also state that what these LCWR Sisters are concerned with have nothing to do with the Church. At this point it was me who felt dismayed. The plight of the poor and marginalized have everything to do with the Church. One only need to read even portions of his encyclical “Sollicitudo rei socialis” to know this.
The comments also praised some Sisters, but it was mostly for wearing habits. Beyond that, they seemed to know little of what these communities are about. The writer of the blog asked why anyone would want to join a community because of the stand it takes. I would ask then, why would anyone join a community just to wear their habit?
Our founder, Bishop Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler, was active in trying to secure justice for workers in Germany, and encouraged us to pay attention to the signs of the times. If the only way we could get new vocations was to abandon our commitment to carry out the social teachings of the Church, and to put on a habit simply because some people think that this is the only way to holiness for religious Sisters, then, sad as this would be to me, I would rather not have any.
Here is the site if you wish to visit it:
http://closedcafeteria.blogspot.com/2007/08/out-of-habit-issues-of-lcwr.html
As always, I welcome your feedback.
Filed under: Reflections
When I hear comments like these, I wonder how the speakers would have reacted to Jesus himself had they lived in his day. Jesus was a radical who challenged the established religion–his own faith tradition–for focusing on the rules rather than the spirit of love and caring for fellow man, Jew and Gentile alike. This worship of tradition over feeding the hungry and clothing the naked was what Jesus railed against the Pharisees for. How can so many miss the point?
Mary Beth
Amen!!
Interesting … they’ve closed the blog off now, it’s readable “by invitation only”. I don’t understand, either, people who think being a “bleeding-heart” liberal is a bad thing…… Especially when they explicitly link that to Christianity! Seems like a throw-back to the ancient heresies that set up a false dichotomy between matter and spirit, this world and the next, denying Christ’s real humanity. The Incarnation is all about feeding the poor; Catholic social teaching is all about the Incarnation. I don’t understand the mindset that denies that, but I would like to, because there are so very, very many people who seem to feel that way. It seems to be half the country (half the country re-elected GWB after his miserable first term!). OK, I don’t like the Dems’ championing free abortions for all, either. Pray the Lord to send us some better laborers for this abundant harvest: more pro-life, socially responsible leadership.
Yes, interesting. I wonder why that person would have closed off the blog.
Anyway…I agree with you Regina…in all you said here. I know some think that in order to be a “liberal”, you have to be pro-choice, but my leanings are pro-life on every level.
Peace to you,
Sr. Judy