After the Vatican made its announcement about the Leadership Council of Women Religious (LCWR ) last week, many Catholics expressed a desire to learn more about the doctrinal assessment and reflect on its meaning in light of theology, which Saint Anselm described as “faith seeking understanding.”

To assist in this, we highlighted a few areas for consideration, based on a study guide that Sister Regina Siegfried, ASC, developed for the novices with whom she works. Sister Regina is a Catholic sister in the congregation of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ. She has taught at Saint Louis University and Aquinas Institute of Theology and works with new members of religious communities and with people who are in RCIA in her parish. The study guide also includes questions from Sister Amy Hereford, CSJ, a Sister of Saint Joseph and an attorney canonist.

Downloadable and printable PDFs of this reflection guide as well as of the doctrinal assessment are available at the end of this post.

The Bigger Picture

1. What are the various centers of authority in the Catholic Church?

2. Name some of the many theologies that are operative in the Catholic Church today. How would you describe the theology at work in your life? in the Church? in LCWR?

3. What do you see as the place of religious life in today’s Church? In today’s world? How might others in the Church see the place of religious?

4. Discuss the notion of human dignity and human rights in this process.

The Assessment Itself

(pp. 1-2) The Introduction situates the assessment in the background of Vita Consecrata, an expression of gratitude for years of service to the Church and for the charism of religious life.  It also mentions that the investigation of LCWR does not mean judgment on the life and faith of individual women religious.

• What do you sense is the overarching concern of the assessment?

(pp. 2-3) This section outlines the chronological setting for the assessment including the three major areas of concern that surfaced in the April 8, 2008, meeting with LCWR and Cardinal Levada: LCWR assembly addresses, policies of corporate dissent, and radical feminism.

• Familiarize yourself with the work of NETWORK and the Resource Center for Religious Institutes (RCRI)

(pp. 3-4) Documentation presented to the ordinary session of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF)

• What are the issues at stake here?
• Where do these issues intersect in your own life?

(p. 5) Principal Findings of the Doctrinal Assessment

• What is one of the conclusions about LCWR assembly addresses?
• What issue from 1977 is still open?
• How do you make sense of the jump in the conclusion that since no clarification was offered, it  therefore is seen as an endorsement of the positions presented in talks?
• Note the discussion on prophetic office in the last paragraph. How does this paragraph agree or disagree with discussions on prophetic office by people like Walter Brueggeman, Michael Crosby, and Sandra Schneiders?

(p. 6) The Role of the LCWR in the Doctrinal Formation of Religious Superiors and Formators

• What’s the difference between “doctrinal content” and “theological education”?

(p. 7) The Mandate for Implementation of the Doctrinal Assessment

• Read Canons 708 and 709 in light of the broader context of religious life mentioned in Canon Law and lived through the centuries.
• What are the five points of the mandate of the Delegate? Do any of them strike you in particular?

(p. 8 ) Conclusion

• This is a five-year process. Any thoughts on where you will be personally in five years? Any thoughts on where you imagine religious life will be? The Catholic Church in the United States?
• The assessment calls for the formation of an advisory team. If you were on the team, what would you bring to the table?

We invite you to download this post to use for further personal reflection or in a discussion group.

• PDF Download: Resource for reflection on the doctrinal assessment of LCWR
• PDF Download: The doctrinal assessment of LCWR

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Join us for a live broadcast this evening and every weekday at 6 p.m. CT at aNunsLife.org/live. Tonight’s broadcast is “Praying with the Sisters,” a podcast where we gather around the Word of God and share prayer requests and prayers of thanksgiving with one another.

AS099 Ask Sister podcast recorded live on January 19, 2012. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Topics include: Mass fracas over word changes in liturgy, unruly use of church rules, finding a spiritual mentor, does God have plans for the world, and more!

Click PLAY below or right-click here to download the MP3.

Subscribe to A Nun’s Life Podcasts:

Ask Sister podcast is a live podcast where you have the opportunity to engage with us and ask questions about nuns, prayer, religious life, or pretty much anything in between!

Here are some of the topics we addressed in this Ask Sister podcast:

• Why are some people vehemently upset about the changes to the Mass? Jesus is still Jesus in the Eucharist — isn’t that why we go to Mass anyway?
• Can I be a sister if I am not a conservative Catholic (or in other words, have a problem with strict applying of rules in the church)?
• Where to find a spiritual mentor when it seems there’s not one anywhere nearby.
• What are God’s plans for today’s world?

Do you have a question for us? Contact us http://anunslife.org/contact/and, using your computer, record your question on voice mail. Be sure to give us your first name and city from where you are calling. We’ll play your message and respond on the Ask Sister podcast. You can also comment below. In whatever way you contact us, please know that your last name, email address, and any other private information will be kept confidential.

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote an interesting op-ed piece called Who Can Mock This Church? (New York Times, May 1, 2010).

It’s a tough read in the sense that he makes some rather pointed statements about the church’s sex abuse scandals and a church teaching or two. But, his message is that those who wish to “sniff derisively” at the church as a whole ought to first take a look at the “brave souls” who work tirelessly, and many times in very dangerous situations, to live truly the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Among the fine examples is Sister Cathy Arata, a nun from New Jersey. Kristof writes:

Photo by Nicholas D. Kristof/The New York Times. Sister Cathy Arata, a nun from New Jersey who now works with a Catholic project called Solidarity With Southern Sudan.

In the city of Juba, I met Cathy Arata, a nun from New Jersey who spent years working with battered women in Appalachia. Then she moved to El Salvador during the brutal civil war there, putting her life on the line to protect peasants. Two years ago, she came here on behalf of a terrific Catholic project called Solidarity With Southern Sudan.

Sister Cathy and the others in the project have trained 600 schoolteachers. They are fighting hunger not with handouts but with help for villagers to improve agricultural techniques. They are also establishing a school for health workers, with a special focus on midwifery to reduce deaths in childbirth.

At the hospital attached to that school, the surgeon is a nun from Italy. The other doctor is a 72-year-old nun from Rhode Island. Nuns rock.

Sister Cathy would like to see more decentralization in the church, a greater role for women, and more emphasis on public service. She says she worries sometimes that if Jesus returned he would say, “Oh, they got it all wrong!”

She would make a great pope, too.

Check out the full article and let us know what you think. What challenges you about the article? What insights popped into your mind?

Women and the Catholic Church is always an intriguing and provocative topic. “Women of Faith: A Film about Women and the Catholic Church” is a new documentary by filmmaker Rebecca Alvin that explores this topic.

The one-hour film includes interviews with Maryknoll Sisters and Poor Clares and, among other things, looks at “the choice to lead a profoundly religious life in the Catholic tradition in the post-feminist era”.

According to reviewers of the film, there is no narrative, allowing the women to speak for themselves without the intrusion of interpretation or commentary. While a good idea, it’s important to note that no documentary can be completely “objective” because the very process of selecting and editing clips is itself an interpretation by the filmmaker. Still, I like the approach and appreciate it.

I’m hoping that the film will be screened in Detroit or Chicago as I’d love to see it for myself. The reviews have been interesting but I’ve not read anything from a nun perspective about the film.

Here’s one of the reviews for your reading pleasure.

Alvin Unveils ‘Women of Faith’: New documentary shines a light on local women and the Catholic Church in Cape Cod Today by Bethany Gibbons (April 7, 2009)

Also, you can check out the Women of Faith website — it’s got a few things on there, but unfortunately much is still “under construction”. Will write more on this when I am able to see the documentary.

Today’s Nunday has an honorary nun guest — Brother Chris Valka, CSB, of the Congregation of Saint Basil. And yes, we have his picture! Chris recently spoke on Faith in Cyber Communities at St. Joseph’s College, University of Alberta, and was written up in the Western Catholic Reporter (March 23, 2009).

Valka presented historical highlights of the Church’s mostly positive views on communications.

“History not only gives us perspective, but it also conveys the optimistic stance the Church takes towards media. The Church has never seen the media as an obstacle,” he said.

People who cannot find answers at the institutional Church of brick and mortar are searching for answers in other places, including the cyber community. This gives people worldwide a place to gather and ask life’s tough questions. In spite of the great distance between them, they can debate, discuss and live out the answers.

Be sure to read Brother Chris’s other observations and ideas about new media and the Catholic Church in the article New media can break through barriers in the Western Catholic Reporter (March 23, 2009).

I had the pleasure of meeting Brother Chris back in 2007 when he interviewed me for his podcast series Conversations with Macrina:

A Discussion About Religious Life (June 23, 2007)

What do you think we religious should be doing online? Would you like us to do more with new media such as podcasts, live discussions, etc.? Give me some ideas about what would interest you, what you think would be helpful to people.