Well, This is Certainly Something to Watch!

Vatican and U.S. Nuns to Parlay on December 16th

Rebels at Heart: Leadership Conference of Women Religious

Cardinal Müller: LCWR Stands in ‘Open Provocation’ of Holy See

And here's the CDF statement by Cardinal Gerhard Müller at the April 30th meeting with the presidency of the LCWR. Wow! I've highlighted some of the more cogent items in red - in honor of the blood of the martyrs who died to defend the faith that these rebel nuns are so intent on destroying!

 Cardinal Müller::

I am happy to welcome once again the Presidency of the LCWR to Rome and to the Congregation. It is a happy occasion that your visit coincides with the Canonization of Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII, two great figures important for the Church in our times. I am grateful as well for the presence and participation of the Delegate for the implementation of the LCWR Doctrinal Assessment, Archbishop Peter Sartain.

As in past meetings, I would like to begin by making some introductory observations which I believe will be a helpful way of framing our discussion.

Moles, Groundhogs, and Termites: More on the LCWR

If you live out in the country you know what a nuisance ground hogs and moles can be. If you live anywhere in the south you know all about termites and watch out for signs your home might be infested. All these pests undermine the integrity of buildings and land and create hazards for farm animals as well. They are the perfect metaphor for the internal enemies of the Church. Any Catholic with an ounce of awareness knows there are groundhogs, moles, and termites in the Church undermining the faith. And among the worst are the members of the LCWR (Leadership Conference of Women Religious) distorting what it means both to be a Catholic woman and a consecrated religious. Since the CDF (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) exposed problems in the organization a few months ago and called for reform, the dissidents have been busy lining up supporters and painting themselves as victims of the mean old misogynist males at the Vatican. They've outlined their immediate strategy in a position paper that rejects the reforms and outlines their strategy for the dispute with Rome. It ends with an interesting statement:

Created in 1956, LCWR has a history of being at the forefront of change and renewal in the US Catholic church as well as acting as a strong advocate for social justice in society.

Let's take this apart. First of all, there is no such thing as a "US Catholic church." (Note the small c for "church"). There is only the Holy Roman Catholic Church founded by Jesus Christ on the rock of Peter whose successor is Pope Benedict XVI. By using this phrase, LCWR has already declared its separateness from Rome, the same thing that happened in the 19th century with the heresy of Americanism. Americanism basically declared the situation unique in the U.S. and emphasized individualism thereby undermining Church authority. John F. Kennedy's speech in Houston in 1960 where he declared his independence from the Church was a prime example of Americanism. It's been echoed by other Catholic politicians like Ted Kennedy, Mario Cuomo, Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, and John Kerry. But not only politicians promote the mindset. Priests and religious who use personal conscience to undermine Church doctrine (Cardinal Joseph Bernardin was an expert in this department.) also illustrate the infection of Americanism. A particularly insidious example is the healthcare debate. Waving the flag of independence, Sr. Carol Keehan of the Catholic Health Association, defied the USCCB (U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops) and  was so instrumental in passing Obamacare the president invited her to the signing and she received one of the pens. LCWR honored her for it. So LCWR immediately places itself among those thumbing their noses at Church authority proclaiming by their actions that the U.S. "church" is different and the hierarchy have no right to exercise authority here.

But what does LCWR mean when it says since 1956 their organization  has been at the "forefront of change and renewal?" Change for change's sake is typical of the modernist heresy which is characterized by a break from the past. All tradition is suspect and novelty is pursued for its own sake. That attitude of rejecting the past is certainly reflected in the history of LCWR, it's speakers and its positions. Donna Steichen outlined numerous heretical activities of the group in her 1996 book Ungodly Rage: The Hidden Face of Catholic Feminism. The '70s marked a radical departure by the LCWR from traditional charity (the works of mercy) to espousing women's rights including the Equal Rights Amendment, female ordination, women's empowerment, goddess worship, and a decidedly non-Catholic approach to "social justice." In 1986, LCWR held a "think tank" which issued papers written by teams that summarized LCWR's principles. Steichen says the essays:

 disclose a desperately uncertain religious vision, only tenuously related to the "symbol" of Jesus Christ, which looks to a feminist version of "liberation" for the world's earthly salvation. The notes and reading lists constitute a coprehensive bibliography in feminist theology.

But the extremism of LCWR isn't just historical. If people want to see how loopy the LCWR continues to be, they have merely to look at the keynote speaker scheduled for LCWR's 2012 August meeting. Barbara Marx Hubbard's address is titled Mystery Unfolding: Speaking in the Evolutionary Now.  Hubbard teaches a program called Agents of Conscious Evolution the purpose of which is to transform individuals to:

become a powerful catalyst of conscious evolution and play a role in one of the most exciting events ever envisioned: a planetary Birth Day on December 22, 2012. This day will help us shift beyond fearful separation toward a global sense of oneness, symbolically marking the start of a new era in human development....This intense and often emotional drama has one powerful solution: our conscious evolution as a species. We have within us extraordinary creative potentials that have yet to be massively unleashed, leading to wide-scale cooperation, innovation, sustainability and peace. The solutions are available; it is only the human software that needs an upgrade.

This says it all as far as LCWR is involved. Jesus' new covenant wasn't enough, but we need to "evolve" through a new age course in "conscious evolution" that makes us "co-creators" of the "next stage for humanity" to be welcomed on December 22, 2012. Hubbard's program is the same type of new age nonsense promoted by Marianne Williamson, Echhart Tolle, and Oprah Winfrey.  In fact, Hubbard participated with Williamson and Tolle last February in the Global Alliance for Transformational Entertainment. Take a look at Hubbard's video below and then read the description of her course on the website.  Hubbard has a background as a liberal and at the 1984 Democratic Convention, 204 delegates placed her name in token nomination for Vice President. (Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro were on the ticket that year.) Hubbard is also a proponent of population control and has frequently written about it in her books. Her initial work with conscious evolution was funded by the Rockefellers. Reading what she says about herself is eye-opening and it is clear that she is as far from Catholic teaching as one can be. She believes Eve was correct in disobeying God to seek knowledge and describes hearing an "inner voice" that told her, "I will not let you die." (Do you hear the hissing?) That the LCWR would invite this woman to keynote their annual meeting epitomizes their misguided activities over the past forty years. They are unregenerate in their dissent and scandal.



TO BE CONTINUED....

Another Thought for the Day

Perhaps this should be titled "God's joke for the day."

The average age of the nuns who are members of the dissent-ridden LCWR (Leadership Conference of Women Religious) is...drum roll...74. Something tells me dissent doesn't have much of a future! As further evidence, the religious orders headed by the dissenter-superiors have few, if any, new vocations. After all, vocation is all about responding to God's call. Why would God call anyone through these false shepherdesses? Praise God for all the faithful sisters serving throughout the country and the world!

And now the contrast in pictures:

This:

And this:

And  this:

Compared to this:

And this:

And this:

ARE YOU LAUGHING? GOD DEFINITELY HAS A SENSE OF HUMOR!

Dissident Nuns Live Off the Holiness of their Founders

The weeping and wailing of the dissident nuns is so hypocritical it's astounding. There are wonderful nuns today and faithful orders are thriving - bringing in the bulk (about 80%) of the new vocations. Even the member orders of the Leadership Conference of  Women Religious (LCWR) have holy nuns in their ranks. But, as the Vatican points out, their corporate structure and advocacy positions are a BIG problem. And the fact is that the thriving orders do NOT belong to the worldly and politically correct LCWR (Leadership Conference of Women Religious). No, the good orders left them back in the mid 90s to found the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious(CMSWR), when they got sick of being associated with labyrinths, peace poles, and prayers before abortion. Look at their member orders and you find nuns in habits joyfully embracing their vocation as brides of Christ and servants of the flock. Compare them to the servants of Mother Earth and the goddess Sophia at the LCWR. All you have to do to know which side is the right one is check out who is supporting the LCWR and attacking the Vatican for calling the nuns back to the true faith:

Jim Wallis - Founder of Sojourners, the far left "Christian" magazine that tickles ears. 

Voice of the Faithful - Dissident group that is the softer face of Call to Action-type Catholics who support every "progressive" move to remake the Church according to the world's view where abortion, contraception, homosexuality, etc. are perfectly fine. Researcher Stephanie Block has called VOTF a "Call to Action Trojan horse."  

New York Times - Anything advocated by the New York Times is suspect! 

National Catholic Reporter (also known as the fishwrap) - NCR is the dissident Catholics' mouthpiece. Many of the most radical dissenting nuns and organizations are featured in its pages promoting the leftist agenda including positions in complete violation of Catholic teaching. 

 I could go on, but I've got other things to do. The LCWR is playing the "we are stunned" game. But the reality is they are perfectly aware of their duplicity. And even now they depend on their buddies in the media to join their chorus. You won't see the nuns in habit in their choir loft, however. They left long ago and are busy teaching and serving and respecting the Holy Father instead of lambasting him. God bless those dear sisters and our prayers especially to the nuns in the LCWR who are suffering in silence.

More on the Leadership Conference of Women Religious

Author Says Women's Conference should return to Authentic Religious Life

Amen to that! Here's an excerpt:

In the early 1960s, the Second Vatican Council called on religious orders to renew and update themselves, removing “outdated” rules and customs so as to engage the modern world.
For example, many religious orders were continuing the custom of waking up at dawn and going to bed at twilight, she said. This rule was left over from a time before electricity was in use, and it is now unnecessary and outdated.
But while the council called for renewal by returning to the orders’ original founding ideas and adapting them to modern times, many people misinterpreted this call and instead proceeded to “totally throw off some of the essentials of religious life,” she said.
The result was an abandonment of central elements of religious life, such as living and praying in community, serving in a corporate apostolate and wearing some type of distinctive religious garb, she explained.
Carey said that after Vatican II, members of many religious orders began to live in apartments and find their own jobs, separate from a corporate apostolate such as teaching or care for the sick.
In addition, they threw off the “loyalty and faithfulness to the Church” as well as the “deference to the hierarchy” that had previously characterized religious life.
The changes were so drastic that they caused some women to leave the LCWR, Carey said. These women formed another group, which eventually became an alternative superiors’ conference known as the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious.
This more traditional group, which requires its members to adhere to the essentials of religious life as understood by the Church, is attracting the bulk of young vocations today, she noted.

Vatican Reins in Renegade Nuns

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) is calling for reform of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), the association of radical nuns who promote dissent in the Church. In a "doctrinal assessment" released today. LCWR is critiqued and found wanting in three areas: addresses at the LCWR Assemblies, their policy of "corporate dissent," and their "radical feminism." Among other things, the assessment found LCWR promoting "positive error" in talks given at their conferences, exacerbated by "silence and inaction of the LCWR in the face of such error."

The two-page mandate for implementing the doctrinal assessment includes the following:

1) "To revise LCWR Statutes to ensure greater clarity about the scope of the mission and responsibilities of this conference of major superiors" subject to approval by the Holy See.
2) "To review LCWR plans and programs, including General Assemblies and publications, to ensure... [they] accord with Church teachings and discipline." Speakers at major programs are henceforth "subject to approval" and certain materials must be revised and reformed.
3) "To create new LCWR programs for member Congregations...that provides (sic) a deepened understanding of the Church's doctrine of the faith."
4) "To review and offer guidance in the application of liturgical norms and texts." For example giving a "place of priority in LCWR events to the Holy Eucharist and Liturgy of the Hours.
5) "To review LCWR links with affiliated organizations, e.g., Network and Resource Center for Religious Life." 

The mandate is for a period of up to five years "as deemed necessary."

All I can say is, "IT'S ABOUT TIME!" Donna Steichen summarized all the abuses of the LCWR mentioned in the doctrinal assessment in her book Ungodly Rage published in 1992. It's only taken twenty years for the men in the Church to come to the same conclusions as this godly prophet. In the meantime, think of all the damage done to the people under the influence of these dissenters.

On the other hand, better late than never. So read the full report and rejoice. The coven of witches running the LCWR is being called out. Do you think they'll obey or rally their followers to withdraw to a moonlit grove in the woods to commune with Sophia? After all, many of these women claim that the priesthood is outdated and unnecessary, their function replaced by the community. Of course, that's not what Jesus taught, but what radical feminist nun ever let a little problem like what Jesus taght get in her way? Pray that the nuns change their tune and sing a song of humility and obedience to Peter's successor. If not, sayonara, old babes, we'll pray for your salvation.