On the American Nuns “Castigated” by Vatican

RH Advocacy Groups PRESS STATEMENT in Solidarity with the American Nuns “Castigated” by Vatican

We, the undersigned, comprised of individuals, various people’s and civil society organizations with membership all over the country, wish to express our support and solidarity with the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), the umbrella group representing most of the United States’ 57,000 nuns, as they find themselves under attack by the Vatican for not taking a stronger stand against sexual and reproductive health and rights in line with their overall ministry to serve the poor. The LCWR has also been taken to task by the Vatican for not taking explicit positions against homosexuality, euthanasia and women’s ordination.

The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) last week ordered a new mandate that the LCWR be overseen by a specially appointed archbishop due to the nuns’ statements, which “disagree with or challenge positions taken by the bishops, who are the church’s authentic teachers of faith and morals.”

We believe this crackdown is a result of the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy’s wider campaign to silence the public voice of women both within their church and outside of it — locally reflected in the actions of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). We value the LCWR’s commitment to social justice and their right to take a conscientious position against a religious leadership that has shown to be both out of touch and outright hostile to the very idea of women taking a greater role in society.