It is impossible to miss the flood of social media updates and news articles that have made LCWR a household acronym. The Leadership Council of Women Religious, a canonical organization representing the vast majority of Catholic Sisters in the United States, received notice by the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) that Archbishop Peter Sartain of Seattle will be overseeing a “renewal” of the organization.

With our sisters and the broader Catholic family, we are shocked and saddened. We are still processing the news and there are still many unknowns. We do not know, for example, how the mandates in the Doctrinal Assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious will be implemented. As we’ve read and listened to the news, we’ve found some resources that have been helpful to us in looking at both the immediate story and the bigger picture. We hope these are helpful to you as well.

• Leadership Council of Women Religious (LCWR) website
• Dr. Margaret Susan Thompson’s guest blog post for The Tablet – Peggy is Professor of History  and has researched and written extensively on the history of women religious in the United States (and she’s a frequent A Nun’s Life guest!)
• Sister Simone Campbell, Executive Director of NETWORK, talking with NPR’s Melissa Block (April 19, 2012)
• Scripture, in particular the Gospel of Jesus Christ
• The Transformation of American Catholic Sisters by Sisters Lora Quiñonez and Mary Daniel Turner (1993) – provides a history of LCWR including its relationship to the Vatican
• James Martin’s Twitter Drive #WhatSistersMeanToMe Supports US Nuns via Huffington Post (April 19, 2012)

We ask for your continued prayer and support of LCWR and the sisters it represents, of Archbishop Sartain and his assistants Bishop Leonard Blair and Bishop Thomas John Paprocki, and of the whole Catholic Church in the U.S.

We hold LCWR in our prayers for their faithful service to the Church and for furthering the mission of the Gospel in today’s world.

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Join the community of faith who gather here weekday evenings at 6 p.m. CT for prayer using the Scriptures of the day’s liturgy at aNunsLife.org/live. All are welcome.

Ilove this reflection on discernment! For me, it pretty much describes in a nutshell my experience of discerning God’s call, especially at times when I find an intersection where I thought only one road existed.

Photo by Alesa Dam

The reflection was written by Sister Mary Fran Gilleran, IHM, and was published in Midwiving a Vibrant Future, by the Leadership Council of Women Religious.

The work of discernment sets a challenge before us. We enter a process of choice and decision-making with many aspects to it. The deepest calls of our lives, the times when we know we have to choose, are profound moments.

These moments always seem to have two sides: call and dread. A call that challenges us, that we know is right, confronts us with dread at the same time. We know this call will require new demands of us. It will require taking on and letting go of familiar patterns and ways of being comfortable. It elicits dread even though we know it is time, it is needed, it is even good for us and for the whole.

Midwives of the new must know when to push for the next stage and when to simply breathe in and through both call and dread. They are two sides of the same invitation. There is a time to throw away. And it is all part of one process.

How does this reflection resonate with your experience of discernment?

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Join A Nun’s Life community tonight for prayer at aNunsLife.org/live at 6 p.m. CT (your time zone) Come a bit early or stay a bit late and chat with us in the chat room!

The Leadership Council of Women Religion (LCWR) held its national assembly this year in Dallas, Texas (August 11-14, 2010). The gathering was an opportunity for education, reflection on issues pertinent to religious life leadership, networking, prayer and celebration.

Among the highlights of the week were the following:

Our own Sister Margaret Brennan, IHM received the 2010 LCWR Outstanding Leadership Award. Sister Margaret, a theologian and former LCWR president, played a key role in the renewal of religious life following the Second Vatican Council. In her response she gave testimony to the founding spirit of LCWR and its continued ministry and mission. (Download the full text of her response GIFT… In gratitude … and awe: A Response)

Richard R. Gaillardetz, PhD of the University of Toledo, spoke on the fidelity of Catholic sisters to the vision of the Second Vatican Council, noting that the tensions sisters are experiencing with the church hierarchy have significance for those not in religious life as well. “The way you respond to the ecclesial tensions you are experiencing right now will be a witness to all Christians, instructing all of us in how to most fruitfully and productively respond to the inevitable ecclesial tensions that we undergo,” he stated.

M. Shawn Copeland, PhD of Boston College emphasized that the prophetic ministry of Catholic sisters is critical for the future of the church. Noting that the Catholic tradition is in crisis, she asked, “How are we to live in the presence of God in this time of disappointment and diminishment? What are we to do in a situation in which nothing seems to be moving forward, when life-giving possibilities for the future seem foreclosed or beyond immediate realization? In such a situation, prophetic ministry not only is needed, it is imperative.”

In her address to the assembly, LCWR president Sister Marlene Weisenbeck, FSPA urged the body to claim its role in the church. She said, “We do not have to mimic our founders to find the answer about how to articulate our ecclesial role. The Gospel will show us what to do, how we must act with the attitude of Jesus who emphasized an inclusive love of all in right relationships. We take our power from the Word of God.” (Download Sister Marlene’s full address Called to Hope as Prophets, Artists, Healers, & Lovers)

Before the close of the assembly, Sister Mary Hughes, OP of the Dominican Sisters of Amityville, New York, assumed the office of LCWR president for 2010-2011.

(sources: Leadership Council of Women Religious and Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; see also US Catholic article LCWR Members urged to maintain ‘hope in the midst of darkness’)

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Join A Nun’s Life Community for prayer today via our live podcast “Praying with the Sisters” and chat room. Just before 6 p.m. Central Time (your time zone) join us at http://aNunsLife.org/LIVE … more info on that page.

From the Leadership Council of Women Religious (LCWR) about one of my nuns …

We are very pleased to announce that Margaret Brennan, IHM, has been chosen to receive the 2010 LCWR Outstanding Leadership Award. The honor will be presented to Margaret at the LCWR assembly in August in Dallas.

Margaret, a Sister, Servant of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Monroe, Michigan, is a theologian, a former president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, and a professor emerita of theology at Regis College (University of Toronto), where she taught for 25 years.

She has made numerous contributions to the renewal of religious life and has been a courageous voice in the church. Novalis Publishing released her memoir last year, What Was There for Me Once.

At the assembly … we will commemorate Margaret’s life and celebrate her significant influence as an inspirational leader in the church and in religious life.

Read more about Sister Margaret Brennan on aNunsLife.org.

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Join Sister Maxine and Sister Julie for LIVE prayer podcast today at 6 p.m. Central Time (check your time zone). You can share your prayer requests with us and the A Nun’s Life community. http://aNunsLife.org/LIVE

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 with your questions. We’ll keep you updated as we go along.

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.