Much has been written in recent weeks about the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's "crackdown" (as the secular media calls it) on the LCWR. The way the media tells this story, one would think that stakes are being prepared, convent libraries are being burned en masse, and the Spanish Inquisition is being brought back to life as Cardinal Levada is finding his inner Torquemada.
The reality is obviously very different. Our question here in Rorate is very simple: how will the CDF and the American bishops actually go about overhauling the LCWR in order to bring it nearer to orthodoxy and to genuine Catholic religious life? Stern episcopal and cardinalitial words against the heterodoxy of liberal nuns are hard but not impossible to find amidst the ecclesiastical verbiage of the past five decades. What we truly hope for are solid disciplinary actions, combined with unambiguous teaching.
The reality is obviously very different. Our question here in Rorate is very simple: how will the CDF and the American bishops actually go about overhauling the LCWR in order to bring it nearer to orthodoxy and to genuine Catholic religious life? Stern episcopal and cardinalitial words against the heterodoxy of liberal nuns are hard but not impossible to find amidst the ecclesiastical verbiage of the past five decades. What we truly hope for are solid disciplinary actions, combined with unambiguous teaching.
If Cardinal Levada's statements to John Allen (in an exclusive interview, the full text of which was published today, to a periodical still fully using the adjective "Catholic" in its name, without being bothered by any bishop for doing so) are any indication, it would seem that comfy chairs, not hot seats, are being prepared for the LCWR leadership, despite the "blunt" language that earlier reports indicated. The following passages sure look scaaaary! (Emphases ours):
NCR: From your point of view, it's premature to say that the LCWR is prepared to move on the substantive issues outlined in the doctrinal assessment?
Cardinal Levada: I would say that's correct.
NCR: Speaking of Barbara Marx Hubbard, LCWR officials have said they went ahead with their assembly in August because you gave them permission to do so. Is that accurate?
Cardinal Levada: Yes, mea culpa! At the time, I hadn't been aware of who was being invited to speak or to get an award. I appreciated their concern that everything was already in place, and I said that's fine, we're OK with that. We haven't asked them to do an about-face. I feel comfortable in saying, however, that I wish they hadn't made these choices.
NCR: By that, you mean the choice to invite Hubbard?
Cardinal Levada: Yes, and also to give an award to Sr. Sandra Schneiders for a view of religious life which has nothing to do with the teachings of the Second Vatican Council or the post-conciliar church. For the record, let me say again this is not about a criticism of the sisters. No sister will lose her job in teaching or charitable work or hospital work as a result of this assessment, as far as I know. This is about questions of doctrine, in response to God's revelation, and church tradition from the time of the apostles. We take that seriously. I've been doing this work for seven years, and I do it willingly, because I believe in it. It's not easy in a secular society like ours in the States, or in Europe for that matter.
NCR: The tensions outlined in the doctrinal assessment have been around for a long time. Why is this coming to a head now?
Cardinal Levada: One answer is that the wheels turn slowly here in the Vatican. Also, when something comes [out of this office], people may be surprised by it, but that doesn't mean the process hasn't been under way for some time. It just goes to show that even in this age of Vatileaks, some of us are able to keep a pontifical secret.
In reality, this should not be a surprise to anyone. We started this process four years ago. I met with the representatives [of LCWR] then to explain it to them. Of course, these things go on at a snail's pace here, while the LCWR has changes in leadership all the time, so the new leaders may not be familiar with the history, and they have to go back over it all.
Why now? It's a reasonable question in that this is not new stuff. Yet it's cumulative, and at a certain point someone has to pay attention to it.
***
NCR: LCWR has said it's considering its response. What happens if they say, "We won't go along with this"?
Cardinal Levada: I mentioned to the sisters today that we shouldn't look at this primarily from the angle of who's in charge here, what's the authority, and so forth. We should start with the issues, and how we can come to an understanding about the issues and the needs. There's a great deal of subsidiarity in the church, and religious communities are a classic example.
Of course, if you look at the church as a hierarchical structure -- whether you see that as benign, or something else -- ultimately, the pope is the superior. If he says, "Sisters, I want you to do this, I want you to take a look at these things, and so forth," that's what I hope will be the outcome.
I suppose if the sisters said, "OK, we're not cooperating with this," we can't force them to cooperate. What we can do, and what we'd have to do, is say to them, "We will substitute a functioning group for yours," if it comes to that.
NCR: What would such a "functioning group" look like?
Cardinal Levada: Good question. I hope it would look like a conference that focuses on the priorities of religious life, the life of holiness, which is the fundamental call of all of us in the church, and the good that can come through the apostolic works that many of these orders are committed to and the prayers that others are committed to. I would like to see religious as champions of the mission of Jesus Christ in the church and the world.
NCR: So if the response is not satisfactory, the result could be decertification of LCWR?
Cardinal Levada: It could be. We only have so much information, and what we've outlined is based on the information we have received. But as I mentioned to the sisters, if one or more parts of that is not correctly perceived, they will tell the bishop delegates, and that won't be a problem.
