UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter
Apr. 19, 2012
By Joshua J. McElwee
The largest leadership organization for U.S. women religious says it was “stunned” by announcement Wednesday that the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had ordered it to reform its statutes and had appointed an archbishop to oversee its revision.
“The presidency of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious was stunned by the conclusions of the doctrinal assessment of LCWR by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,” the group says in a press statement this morning.
“Because the leadership of LCWR has the custom of meeting annually with the staff of CDF in Rome and because the conference follows canonically-approved statutes, we were taken by surprise.”
On Wednesday, the Vatican announced it had appointed Seattle Archbishop Peter Sartain to oversee the LCWR, which has been the subject of a “doctrinal assessment” by the Vatican congregation since 2009.
The group sent an email earlier this morning to the heads of each of the congregations it represents, explaining how the group initially became aware of the news.
That email, which was obtained by NCR, says that LCWR leadership was in Rome to meet with members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith yesterday regarding the doctrinal assessment. When the leaders came to the meeting, the email says the congregation had already communicated with the U.S. bishops’ conference news of Sartain’s appointment.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.