Below is a review published in US Catholic (October 2006) by one of my nuns, Margaret Brennan, IHM. Margaret is a good friend of mine, a wonderful theologian, articulate writer and speaker, and a woman of wisdom and insight. Here’s what she has to say in US Catholic about the book Double Crossed:

Double Crossed
By Kenneth Briggs (Doubleday, 2006)

To “double cross” is to deceive or betray a person one is supposedly helping. But that word doesn’t adequately identify the situation Kenneth Briggs attempts to describe in Double Crossed, which contends that “much of the demise of religious orders at the dawn of the 21st century can be traced to the hierarchy’s refusal to make good on the promise of renewal made by the Vatican 40 years before.”

There is no doubt that many of the council fathers thought that women religious would be slow to enter into the changes in the church after Vatican II. Small wonder then that Vatican officials and many bishops experienced a “double take” at the alacrity, seriousness, and independence with which U.S. women religious internalized and undertook the renewal that inevitably would bring them into conflict with church officials. Their participation in the burgeoning civil rights, feminist, and peace movements, and their endorsement of the right of self-determination and the dignity and contribution of each person met with strong opposition from ecclesiastical authorities, with some notable exceptions.

Briggs’ thesis is well-intentioned but somewhat simplistic in its final analysis. Although he alludes to the painful struggles over the meaning, extent, and theology of renewal as mandated by the council, it is important to note—which he neglects to do—that many of those struggles arose from commitments of the women religious themselves to differing ecclesiologies.

Although religious life has dramatically diminished in size since the beginning of the council, it is good to point out, as Briggs does through the astute reflection of theologian Sandra Schneiders, that “the most miraculous aspect of the dying process was that so many communities remained buoyant even as the roof was falling in upon them. . . . They appeared ready to let the mustard seed take its course.”—Margaret Brennan

I just read a very interesting article called “Where have the nuns gone? Orders thriving despite ‘double-cross’ claim” on Catholic Online that was originally published in National Catholic Register (8/3/6). In the article the perspectives of two nuns on religious life are set in contrast.

The article centers around a new book by former New York Times religion editor Kenneth Briggs. The book is called Double Crossed: Uncovering the Catholic Church’s Betrayal of American Nuns(Doubleday). Although I have not yet seen the book, the title and description of the book lead me to conclude that it may have a provocative edge to it (just a guess). You can be assured that a review of that book will be forthcoming in this blog. The other book mentioned in the article is Joseph Varacalli’s The Catholic Experience in America (Greenwood Press) which takes a very different stance than Double Crossed. (Note: my hermeneutics of suspicion compels me to note that both authors are men … while I’m sure I will learn from their books, I’m a little suspicious of anyone “defining” or “categorizing” or making judgments about nuns who do not (and, in this case, cannot) live the lifestyle of women religious. I am surprised that the author of the article did not note this and balance the books with any of the countless books on religious life written by women religious.)

A number of observations made in the article seemed legitimate: the differing perspectives on religious life, the effects of Vatican II on religious life (especially women religious), and the dynamic tension between remaining who you are as a congregation and adjusting to meet the signs of the times (my words, not the article’s).

However, I have to say that I was very disappointed in the article because it basically pitted two contrasting perspectives (and nuns) against one another. I was left feeling like a whole dialogue on religious life was left out and that the state of religious life in the American Church (the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious and the Leadership Council of Women Religious both represent women religious in the United States) was distilled to merely two perspectives that were placed in opposition to one another. The truth of the matter is that there is far more dialogue that goes one within and between these national councils and the sisters they represent. Congregations contain a wonderful mix of sisters with varying perspectives on their call, religious life in general, the Church, ministry, prayer, etc. This is good and healthy. In addition, every congregation struggles with the question of how to remain true to their founders vision and to their own calling while at the same time adapt to what Vatican II called “the signs of the times.”

Read the article here: “Where have the nuns gone? Orders thriving despite ‘double-cross’ claim.”