God is not manipulating by some giant computer in the sky

In her recent essay “When good (bad) things happen: Religious life in the wake of the investigation“, Sister Sandra Schneiders, IHM, hits a very key point about how we understand God and God’s relationship to us and the world. She also well articulates many of the positive effects of both the Apostolic Visitation and the doctrinal assessment of the Leadership Council of Women Religious (an organization representing 95% of women religious in the United States).

Read the article and let’s have a conversation here about our questions, concerns, observations and hopes. To start, here are just a few of the lines that struck me …

The “attribution of direct causality for mundane happenings to God can be a spontaneous reaction to bewilderment in the face of inexplicable evil and suffering, but it reflects bad theology and encourages worse spirituality.”

“God is not manipulating by some giant computer in the sky …”

“God is supporting us, urging us to the best responses to reality of which we are capable and even beyond what we think we are capable of, consoling us in suffering, sharing and affirming our joy, strengthening us in conflict, and enabling us to learn and grow through everything we experience no matter how tragic or overwhelming it may be. But this does not make God the direct and immediate cause of each event that happens in the universe.”

“In short, bad causes, whether natural disasters or accidents or stupidity or human evil, do not produce good results, but human beings dealing courageously and creatively with natural or moral evil can cause great good to emerge for themselves and others.”

“Many people … are beginning to realize that two Vatican investigations of U.S. women religious and their leaders … have nevertheless been the context for some very positive developments. These developments were clearly not intended by the investigations and certainly not caused by them. But God is not limited by human intentions …”

“Perhaps the most important development is the impetus … to articulate much more clearly the theology and spirituality that has developed in and energized the last 40 years of ministerial religious life in this country.”

“Are we taking time to interact with younger women who, as they were growing up, may not have known personally any sisters and perhaps thought of them as timid and domesticated “good little nuns” or “father’s little helpers” but who now are hearing and reading about educated and powerful women religious committed to a Vatican II church and a redeemed world?”

“Adversity often calls out of people conviction, strength and commitment that they were not conscious of possessing. That does not make adversity, especially gratuitous adversity caused by human beings, a blessing, even a “blessing in disguise.””

For more on Sister Sandra Schneiders, check out our recent interview with her on our monthly series In Good Faith as well as other articles we’ve written.

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Tagged as: apostolic visitation, catholic sister, lcwr, nun, religious life, sandra schneiders, vatican