Since the Apostolic Visitation of U.S. Women Religious was announced, U.S. Catholic magazine has been researching, writing about, and publishing articles and blog posts about the inquiry itself and the responses of women religious themselves as well as from the Catholic community.

U.S. Catholic has pulled together a collection of all these materials on their website at http://www.uscatholic.org/womenreligious.

We’ve also done some blog posts on the topic of the Apostolic Visitation.

Though there hasn’t been much in the news lately about the inquiry into our life as women religious in the U.S., the process is still underway. I’m not certain but I think the process is now at the point of beginning to select which communities will receive an on-site visit. More later as info is made public. For now, please continue to keep U.S. women religious in your prayers as well as Mother Clare Millea, ASCJ, and Cardinal Rodé and all who are part of the inquiry.

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Please join us at 6:00 p.m. CST (your time zone) for Praying with the Sisters podcast, a ministry of A Nun’s Life. Visit aNunsLife.org/LIVE.

The magazine U.S. Catholic has just published three articles on U.S. Catholic Sisters. Each of them is a “must read”. I encourage you to take the time to read each one and then come on back here to offer your thoughts: what struck you? what do you have more questions about?

1) Entered into Evidence: Women religious respond to the Vatican investigation by Heather Grennan Gary, posted online November 24, 2009 and in the January 2010 issue (Vol. 75. No. 1, pp. 12-17).

This article represents a final report compiled from U.S. Catholic’s recent survey of Catholic sisters. The survey, though acknowledge to be U.S. Catholic conducted its own “visitation” of sorts, and this final report compiles our findings. The “completely optional, unscientific online survey provided a forum for American women religious to assess the quality of their own lives, raise their concerns about the present and future religious life, and share their thoughts on the visitation process itself.”

Our sisters Angela Hibbard, IHM, and Mildred Baker, IHM, are quoted in the article.

2) Character Witnesses by Heidi Schlumpf, posted online November 24, 2009 and in the January 2010 issue (Vol. 75. No. 1, pp. 20-23).

This article offers the results of “an online survey of U.S. Catholic subscribers and website visitors about the Vatican visitation and doctrinal assessment of U.S. women religious elicited a record 1,700 responses and passionate, lengthy comments. Visitors came from all over the Internet-from both liberal church organizations and conservative Catholic blogs-to take the survey.”

3) The Sisters of Mercy aren’t McDonald’s by Sandra Schneiders, IHM, posted online November 24, 2009 and in the January 2010 issue ( (Vol. 75. No. 1, pp. 18-19)

If you read no other article explaining why Catholic sisters are responding the way they are, read this one. Sister Sandra Schneiders, whose sister I am proud to be, addresses two of the most oft-asked questions about the investigation of U.S. women religious:

• If religious have nothing to hide, why would they object to being investigated by the Vatican?
• Why should religious congregations be any more immune to surprise checks by the Vatican on their quality of life than a fast-food franchise is to a surprise check by the main office on the quality of its operations and products?

Sister Sandra offers analogies of our situation as women religious to ordinary situations that most people are familiar with. Again, a must read.

We look forward to your thoughts on these articles. What struck you? What do you have more questions about?

Amidst all the discussion on and reality of the Apostolic Visitation of U.S. Catholic Sisters and of the doctrinal assessment, there are some really cool things out there that affirm the beauty and adventure of religious life and the women who living this life here in the United States. Here are a couple of examples:

• Women and Spirit: Catholic Sisters in America – “a traveling exhibit sponsored by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) in association with Cincinnati Museum Center. It reveals the mystery behind a small group of innovative American women who helped shape the nation’s social and cultural landscape.”
• Thank You, Sister – a letter-writing campaign by “those of us who have been served by or served with women religious to stand in support and express our gratitude for these women who have given us so much.”

A Nun’s Life Ministry is in full support of Catholic sisters and nuns. Our ministry is devoted to connecting with people, to helping folks discern their vocation, and to presenting accurate and authentic information and images of Catholic sisters and nuns in today’s world.

Sister Maxine and I were recently at a Catholic conference in Chicago and gave out “I support Sisters and Nuns” buttons. We still have some left and are offering them now for a small donation of $3 a piece. Donations above and beyond that goes 100% into our ministry. Our goal is to get these buttons circulating across the country and beyond. Supplies are limited but if we have any $ left over, we’ll print another round.

How do you get your button? Send us your name and address, # of buttons, and donation via PayPal with a click of the donate button. It’s not necessary to have a PayPal account to use PayPal. There’s an option to donate via credit card or bank account. (Sorry in advance for the huge donate link … can’t seem to get it any smaller):

Thanks in advance for your support of Catholic Sisters and Nuns.

Sister Maxine and I got home late last night and are getting today’s podcast together. Since being on the road all week, we’ve not had too much time to prepare so this podcast will be a fun one! As mentioned yesterday, we’ll talk about our mission out west this week plus some of the nun news stories from the week. We now have an “ask sister” portion of the podcast where we’ll take your questions and comments on the air (via chat room or call in).

Here’s what we’ve got today:

• Cardinal O’Malley’s letter of affirmation for the Leadership Council of Women Religious — also mentioned is the Thank You, Sister Campaign which you are invited to participate in
• Mother Angelica of EWTN receives the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice award  — also mentioned is the book Mother Angelica: The Remarkable Story of a Nun, Her Nerve, and a Network of Miracles
• National Communicators Network of Women Religious conference in San Francisco — Sister Julie presented on blogging and social media (FYI A Nun’s Life is on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube)
• a visit to Muir Woods and the redwoods and with our friend Sister Pat Farrell, OP, of the San Rafael Dominicans
• The article Confessions of a Modern Nun in America magazine by Sister Ilia Delio
• a discussion on the Apostolic Visitation and LCWR doctrinal assessment
• Ask Sister – a visitor in the Talkshoe chat room asks why there are age limits for entering a religious community

Visit ANunsLife.org/live
Today
12 p.m. Central Time / UTC-5

Join in on the conversation during the live broadcast by listening and chatting in our chat room.

POST SHOW UPDATE: Here’s the link to today’s podcast which was broadcast earlier today.

The investigation of women religious (aka Catholic sisters or Catholic nuns) in the United States has raised many questions and concerns since it was first announced earlier this year. Here at A Nun’s Life Ministry, we’ve received a number of questions about the Apostolic Visitation and the doctrinal assessment of the Leadership Council of Women Religious (LCWR), an organization representing 95% of women religious in the United States. Because of the concern that so many people have shared, we’d like to open the door to your questions so that we can begin to address them with the help of experts in the field of religious life and the Catholic Church.

We would like to begin gathering your questions about the investigations. Some of the questions we’ve already received touch on the following concerns:

• why are sisters being investigated? And why only in the United States?
• is this Apostolic Visitation like the Visitation of the Legionaries of Christ?
• why are sisters upset if they have nothing to hide?
• who are Cardinal Rodé and Mother Mary Clare Millea?
• is this a friendly visit?
• why aren’t contemplative nuns and religious brothers and priests being investigated?
• should this be of concern to me as a lay person? as someone who is ordained? as a religious who is not being investigated?

In the next few weeks, A Nun’s Life Ministry will be collecting your questions as well as creating a resource page with information on the Apostolic Visitation and the doctrinal assessment. We welcome all respectful questions. Please use the comment box below or email us at sister@anunslife.org with your questions. We’ll keep you updated as we go along.

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Here’s today’s Praying with the Sisters podcast on a passage from today’s liturgy. Click on the “play” button.

This has been the week of new podcasts for A Nun’s Life. Today we are launching a half-hour show called Nun News Roundup which will be broadcast at noon Central Time (time zone converter).

Nun News Roundup features news stories about Catholic sisters and nuns from this past week. Sister Maxine and I talk about the stories and welcome your comments via our Chat Room at http://anunslife.org/live.

This week’s topics include:

A Nun’s Life Podcast Debut - featuring Praying with the Sisters, NunNews Roundup, and special broadcasts (e.g., Vocation Study)

Widespread Interest in Religious Life Generated by Vatican Inquiries – See the recent essay by Sister Sandra Schneiders in NCR

Franciscan Nuns win Rural Preservation Award – check out the Chicago Tribune article and the Sisters of Saint Francis of Oldenburg, Indiana

Mystery Solving Nuns – New York Times writer Patricia Cohen reviews Sister Pelagia and the Red Rooster by Boris Akunin (Random House) sparking Sister Julie’s wonderment at the size of this genre of books

Catholic nuns boost their brain power through meditation and prayer – Now we know why nuns are such good detectives and mystery-solvers! Check out the article about nun’s extraordinary brain power!

And as an extra incentive (as if spending quality time with two nuns is not incentive enough), we’ll have a free giveaway for one lucky listener. So join us at noon Central Time today!

Give us your feedback about the A Nun’s Life podcasts you’ve heard or suggestions for future shows or topics!

POST-SHOW UPDATE: Listen to the recording of this show by clicking the “play” button below.

Sister Sandra Schneiders’ essay on U.S. Women Religious and the Apostolic Visitation is a must-read essay for all Catholics, all people interested in Catholic sisters and nuns and/or in U.S. history, and definitely all those discerning religious life.

The National Catholic Reporter has just published an essay by Sister Sandra Sandra Schneiders, IHM, called Why They Stay(ed) (NCR, August 17, 2009). The essay addresses two sets of questions concerning U.S. women religious that are “roiling the waters” in and outside the church today:

1. Why are religious disturbed about the apostolic visitation?
2. What is the real motivation for this investigation?

What follows is the most lucid discussions on the topic of the Visitation that I’ve encountered. Not only does Sister Sandra address how the Apostolic Visitation is being received by many U.S. sisters and nuns as well as many priests, men religious, and lay people and why it’s disturbing, but she explains what the situation of women religious is and has been since around the Second Vatican Council.

I have to re-read the essay and will offer more thoughts. For now just want to make sure you have seen it. Please bring your questions, comments, and thoughts about this to the comment section below.

Thanks to Father James Martin, SJ, for this article – “Pope Hopes Excommunicated Nun Might Become Saint (America, July 9, 2009).

Mother Mary McKillop, the foundress of the Australian-based Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart, was, in 1871, officially excommunicated by her local bishop, on the grounds that she “’she had incited the sisters to disobedience and defiance.”  That same church leader, Bishop Sheil, had earlier invited her to work in Adelaide, where she and her sisters would eventually set up schools, a women’s shelter and an orphanage, among their many works….

In April of this year, in an extraordinary gesture, Bishop’s Sheil’s successor, the current archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson, made a public apology to the Sisters for their foundress’s excommunication.  Standing before her statue, said that he was “profoundly ashamed of the Bishop’s actions in driving the Sisters out onto the streets.”  McKillop was beatified (the next-to-last step for canonization) by Pope John Paul II in 1995.

This is an interesting article in its own right but also in light of the swirling news about the Apostolic Visitation to some U.S. women’s religious communities. There is a great variety of speculation, study, interpretation, experience, and plain old ignorance about the Visitation. Sadly, some in the Catholic blogosphere have used this opportunity to slander individual Catholic sisters and nuns and congregations with accusations that sound pretty much like the ones Mother Mary McKillop received. I am reminded of the words of Saint Augustine (which someone had posted elsewhere as a rebuke to slanderous comments) — “In essentials, unity, in non-essentials diversity, in all things charity.”

I’d love to hear your comments about Father Martin’s piece, Pope Hopes Excommunicated Nun Might Become Saint. The article goes a lot deeper than the headline suggests and includes the fabulous line “Musty stories of dead nuns?” How can you resist wanting to know how Father Martin slipped that line in??

Just got word that Sister Sandra Schneiders, IHM, will be a panelist on the NPR “On Point” program today, Wednesday, July 8. The topic is “U.S. Catholic Nuns and the Vatican” which will probably include discussion about the Apostolic Visitation. One of the other panelists will be Mother Mary Quentin Sheridan, RSM (Religious Sister of Mercy), who currently leads the Conference of Major Superiors of Women Religious, one of two women’s religious leadership groups in the United States (the other is the Leadership Council of Women Religious).

Also on the panel is Sister Mary Traupman, CDP (Sisters of Divine Providence), an attorney who helps senior citizens with legal work, and Laurie Goodstein, national religion correspondent for The New York Times. Goodstein wrote a recent article “U.S. Nuns Facing Vatican Scrutiny” (July 1, 2009) which included a misquote of Sister Sandra when it stated she “urged fellow nuns not to participate/cooperate in the study” — Sister Sandra has requested a correction.

Check your local station for the broadcast time of “On Point” is aired. You can also listen live on the “On Point” website 10am – Noon, 7 – 9pm (ET). The program will likely be available on the website after the broadcast too.

Since the news of the Apostolic Visitation to U.S. Communities of Women Religious, there has been much discussion and speculation about the Visitation and about the Catholic sisters leading the Visitation. One of those sisters is Sister Eva-Maria Ackerman, FSGM. Sister Ackerman is the spokesperson for Mother Mary Clare Millea, ASCJ, who was appointed Apostolic Visitator by the Vatican.

Sister Ackerman was recently profiled in the St. Louis Review, the weekly newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Louis where Sister Ackerman has been director of the Office of Consecrated Life.

Sister Ackerman discusses her new role as spokesperson for the Apostolic Visitation.

“I’m grateful for having 12-plus years here to prepare me to understand how important the visitation is,” Sister Eva-Maria said. “I’ve learned a lot from religious, and I’ve been inspired by the generosity and dedication of so many and their witness. I’ve seen how even more important religious life is for the Church, and therefore an initiative like the one that is going to be taking place, with its intended goal of renewing the life of women religious, will only strengthen the Church. Religious life is really a gift in the heart of the Church, and the stronger, the more vibrant religious life is, the more vibrant the life of the Church.”

“I am in awe of what women religious have been able to do despite declining numbers and a higher median age. The communities are still vibrant in a lot of ways, but all of us can grow and renew with great energy. Nothing is impossible with God in this regard.”

I look forward to getting to know Sister Ackerman and Mother Millea as they begin this significant endeavor. Let us pray for both sisters and their work and for all communities of women religious in the U.S.

The Vatican has just announced an Apostolic Visitation “in order to look into the quality of the life” of women religious in the United States. The announcement was made public in a news conference at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC, on January 30.

At the news conference, Sister Eva-Maria Ackerman, FSGM, of the Alton Franciscans (Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George) announced that Cardinal Franc Rodé (the Prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life), appointed Mother Mary Clare Millea, ASCJ, superior general of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, as Apostolic Visitator. In this role, Mother Millea will oversee the process of visiting and studying apostolic women religious communities (not cloistered or contemplative communities) and then submit a report to the Cardinal on “women’s apostolic religious life in the United States and on each of the congregations assessed.” Although there is no deadline for completing the Visitation and submitting a report, Mother Millea hopes to complete the task by 2011.

Sister Ackerman, who is Mother Millea’s spokesperson, outlined the process of the Apostolic Visitation: “First, Mother Clare will solicit voluntary input from the superiors general through inviting them to make personal visits with her in Rome or in the United States,” she said. “During the second stage, the major superiors in the United States will be asked for information such as statistics, activities and community practices. Selected on-site visits will be made during the third stage.” (Catholic News Service)

Says Mother Mary Clare Millea of the task ahead:

“I know that the object of this Visitation is to encourage and strengthen apostolic communities of women religious, for the simple reason that these communities are integral to the entire life of the Catholic Church, in the United States and beyond.”

The website of Apostolic Visitation of Institutes of Women Religious in the United States has more information about the Visitation including the following:

• approach and goals of the Apostolic Visitation
• reference materials and news
• frequently asked questions

As I learn more about the Apostolic Visitation, I’ll be sure to let you know.