Pope Benedict should not throw nuns under the bus

Seano – so sorry to see you continue to deny what the Catholic Church does in its mission since its foundation by Jesus Christ. You can read all about what it is up to these days (and in recent and older years) on the Vatican’s own website - vatican(dot)va - and for more detailed history of the Church back to the time of St. Peter may I recommend you read whatever takes your fancy at newadvent(dot)org where there are thousands of subjects to read up on, including earliest historical facts. If you have any issues with what the Church does or is about, I suggest you take the mater up directly with the Vatican’s representatives or its Press Office; you can try info(at)pressva(dot)va. Tell them straight what you think of them... we Catholics on ICentral already know.

I have great respect for the Sisters who surrounded me for 15 years of my young life. Unfortunately, starting in late 60's onwards an evil radical feminism crept into many orders both in N. America and Ireland. This included nuns becoming pro-aborts, lesbians, new agers. They stepped into civvies, ear rings and make up. They became anti man, anti authority. Some of the originals are still around, still grumbling and protesting. Pride of that nature soon falls. Those former convents are dying out, many have gone. On the positive side, traditional orders are growing again. Wonderful, educated young women with real vocations are entering new convents in good numbers. They are seeding convents in other countries out of the U.S., including here in Australia. How wonderful it was for me to meet some of these joyful women (Dominicans in trad. habits) at the Royal Sydney Show, and after a Pontifical High Mass celebrated by Cardinal Burke (who was invited here by students from Sydney University). The claim of nuns "thrown under the bus" comes out of the old ranks, which, as I pointed out, are dying out thank God. As with universities which carry the title 'Catholic', convents too have to earn that title. If they betray what is Catholic and support issues that are against Our Lord's teachings (e.g. thou shalt not kill) the Vatican has the duty to reprimand and even take further action if the perpetrators continue.

Jesus never founded any church others founded a church in his name. Just setting straight one of the biggest lies in Christendom.The Pope and his minions are desperately trying to stifle any debate that is contrary to the extreme right which now runs the church.

phinsman forgets (or is ignorant of the fact) that the RCC is not and was never intended to be a democratic institution. Neither is it a dictatorship as properly understood and defined today. Christ founded His church to be a perfect ‘society’ and in doing so, conferred on it the right to legislate for the good of that society (“Peter, you are the Rock... whatever you bind on earth will also be bound in Heaven.”). Its power of jurisdiction contains the following rights: *the right to frame and sanction laws which it considers useful or necessary, i.e. legislative power; *the right to judge how the faithful observe these laws i.e. judicial power; *the right to enforce obedience, and to punish disobedience to its laws i.e. coercive power; *the right to make all due provision for the proper celebration of worship, i.e. administrative power. The Church of Christ is neither a democracy nor a dictatorship but a jurisdiction for a perfect society. The fact that its members are human and many fail to match up to its desire for spiritual perfection of society in no way absolves the Church from its Christ-given jurisdictional duties to continue to lead with proper guidance and laws of obedience. Anyone shunning the RCC’s guidance and requirements for obedience is therefore shunning Christ’s instructions. We all have the right to choose to accept or reject this jurisdiction but once we do make that choice, we have to live with its consequences. Hopefully, the belligerent nuns will make the right choice and listen to their Pope.

What absolute tripe, Mary Pat. No one is throwing anyone under any buses, and not all nuns are wise women, as this bunch has so clearly proven. They took vows of chastity, obedience and fidelity to the Church, and we know for a fact that they have broken, at the very least, the last two. They left the Church of their own will and through their own actions, so, in essence, they threw themselves under the bus. They are balking now, because they just figured out they wont be able to hold on to Church owned property. When you hold yourself out to be Catholic, particularly to be in Holy Orders, and then vocally and publically place yourself in direct opposition to the Church, you should expect to receive a rebuke. When you persist, you can expect to be censored. Id you continue the same path, you will find yourself evisted and on your own. Personally, I think there are more out there to be censored. I see the Jesuits next on the list.

Abhainn, the fall of the US Catholic Church into a misogynist, homophobic political club, as well as the demise of RC Ireland at the hands of morally blunted bishops, is history in the making. It represents a sea change in Irish and American life and culture. For that reason IC should cover it even if no one is Catholic anymore.

Sister Carol Keehan, head of the Catholic Health Association, was prophetic when she wrote about the Affordable Care Act, "We expect to see charges and counter charges about what is in the bill" ("Catholic Health World": March 15, 2010, online). Some IC posters, duped by the USCCB's rabble rousing, are making ridiculous claims about the feds forcing abortion services on Catholic employers! Sr. Keenan endorsed the ACA only after scrutinizing it. She wrote, "We said there could not be any federal funding for abortions and there had to be strong funding for maternity care, especially for vulnerable women. The bill now being considered allows people buying insurance through an exchange to use federal dollars in the form of tax credits and their own dollars to buy a policy that covers their health care. If they choose a policy with abortion coverage, then they must write a separate personal check for the cost of that coverage. There is a requirement that the insurance companies be audited annually to assure that the payment for abortion coverage fully covers the administrative and clinical costs, that the payment is held in a separate account from other premiums, and that there are no federal dollars used." What do the nuns care about? ACA provides "$250 million over 10 years to pay for counseling, education, job training and housing for vulnerable women who are pregnant or parenting."

That's ok the Pope would throw anyone under the bus to not have to admit that there was any abuse going on. Tough time to be a Catholic.

Cynical - but probably realistic - me says, "Distraction!" As in, cause a big enough uproar over another topic and maybe everyone will forget about the truly important issue, that of priestly abuse and Vatican cover-up.

An awful lot of Irish people don't give a flying damn about Catholicism or any religion, but this Irish Central runs an awful lot of stories about it. I didn't come here to read the article, just to point that out.

The Roman Catholic Church has no democracy... it is a dictatorship. I would highly recommend that every country that has Catholics break away from the Roman Catholic Church and have their own Catholic Church. For example... The Irish Catholic Church, The American Catholic Church, The Spanish Catholic Church, etc. This would allow each country's Catholic Religion to democratically establish their own religious rules, for example... allowing women to be priests, allowing priests and nuns to be married and have families, accept gay relationships, etc.

Mary Pat Kelly talks about the bishop who was replaced and issues a veiled threat to the Pope. How many nuns in the U.S. even wear their "uniforms" anymore? Sister Carol Keehan of the CHA has a salary of 962K. Most wear expensive clothes while my own Irish mother wore hand-me-downs. These are the new nuns of Teilhard de Chardin. They want to share power, enjoy lesbian lifestyles, and preach for abortion and lust for the priesthood. This is the leadership of the American nuns. Sister Carol Keehan was tricked into admitting that she favors abortion. That is what the Pope is fighting and not the little old nun in a habit who is doing her Mother Theresa impression.

I want to thank Mary Pat Kelly for this article because if completely and totally vindicates the Vatican for censoring the LCWR. No one, including the Vatican, doubts or criticizes the nuns for their social justice accomplishments. But that is not why the Vatican censored the LCWR in the first place. The Vatican action was necessary to stem the tide of radical feminism as reveled by the LCWR's heterodox doctrines and opinions as well as by their continual criticism of and opposition to the all-male hierarchy of the Church. Over the years the LCWR has publicly opposed the bishops on many different fronts.....Obamacare, the HHS Contraception Mandate, ordination of women, homosexuality, abortion, contraception etc. To add insult to injury LCWR leadership has been defiant and downright nasty in their responses. They have mocked Pope Benedict and the bishops and attempted to cast themselves as 'victims'

A couple of examples where the LCWR has crossed the Catholic Line: 1. Sister Brigid McDonald of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet will only refer to Pope Benedict as Ratzinger because she feels this fits him better. She also concludes that the Vatican reprimand is an abuse of power. Nice huh? Just who is in charge of the Church the LCWR? In 2007 Sister Brink in her address to the LCWR she indicates that,"some women religious have moved to a sojourner model, “an option difficult to discuss, since it involves moving beyond the Church, even beyond Jesus.” These women have stepped away from the institutional Church, are in a sense “post-Christian.” The “God of Jesus might well be the God of Moses and the God of Mohammed” — points on which I think most of us, including Church leaders, already agree — and to finding our basic values also and already present in “Buddhism, Native American spirituality, Judaism, Islam” and other religions, for “wisdom is found in the traditions of the Church as well as beyond it” - a view which, if "beyond" is understood properly, is as old as the Church itself and as new as recent papal teachings." Move beyond Jesus Christ and the institutional Church, really? This kind of pap is standard fare for the LCWR and they are now reaping what they have sown. That brings me back to Mary Pat Kelly's article. In it she does not address any of the Vatican's findings that the I outlined above. Instead she focuses on their social justice accomplishments, their aging population, retirement problems etc. I think the solution is simple. I think they Vatican should suppress the LCWR. Those nuns who want to can return to their orders can and the rest, who would rather 'sojourn', can leave the Catholic Church and focus on mother earth, social causes etc. I hope they’ll come back to the Church.

It's about time the Vatican corrected these nuns...they have been spreading their heterodox views for years.