ROME
National Catholic Reporter
by John L Allen Jr on Jun. 13, 2012 NCR Today
ROME — Archbishop James Peter Sartain of Seattle has what it is arguably the toughest assignment facing any American bishop at the moment, given both the intense public interest and the complexity of the issues involved. As of April 18, Sartain, 60, became the Vatican’s point man for what it describes as a “renewal,” and what others see as a “crackdown,” of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.
In his dealings with the largest umbrella group for leaders of women’s religious in America, Sartain is to be assisted by Bishop Leonard Blair of Toledo, Ohio, who conducted a review of the group on behalf of the Vatican, and Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Ill.
Sartain is in Rome this week primarily to take part in yesterday’s meeting between two representatives of the LCWR and the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which issued an April 18 doctrinal assessment of LCWR charging it with “serious doctrinal errors” and “doctrinal confusion” and calling for sweeping changes in the way it does business.
To date, Sartain has largely tried to stay out of the limelight. That’s in part a question of personality, and in part because Sartain says he doesn’t want to take public positions that might close off his options or make dialogue more difficult.
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