I am not a fan of Maureen Dowd. I find her writing glib, snotty and self-indulgent. That being said, I have read a couple of columns which were quite good -- the ones where she removes herself and sense of superiority. Today she wrote a fine and accurate piece.
The Nuns' Story provides a mini-view of the historical and current oppression of religious women by the Catholic hierarchy. Of course, all women are deemed subservient by the Church, but all religious orders are either directly or indirectly under the authority of Rome.
Pope Benedict XVI (God's Rotweiller) has begun a witchhunt in all active communities in the United States.
The Vatican is now conducting two inquisitions into the "quality of life" of American nuns, a dwindling group with an average age of about 70, hoping to herd them back into their old-fashioned habits and convents and curb any speck of modernity or independence.
Dowd raises several astute and galling comparisons between how priests (aka men) and nuns are and have been treated by the Pope, Cardinals and Bishops. She rightly sees the convergence of Vatican II and the Feminist Movement as creating the perfect storm for rebellion and independence. During the forty-six years since Vatican II, which ushered in a breath of fresh air to a moldering institution, many religious communities moved slowly and steadily into the 20th century.
During this major reform period, thousands of nuns left their communities, either through fear of change or liberation through radical theology. Those who remained, struggled and were exhilerated by the incremental changes. I can only speak from my experience.
As I have written here before, I was a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Chambery. Even in its heyday in the States, it was a small community of perhaps 400 teaching and nursing Sisters. We were rooted in Jesuit discipline as one of the founders was a Jesuit priest. The rules were rigid. Hours of silence, prayer, and study were combined with classes on the "maxims" of St. Ignatius Loyola. Many of those maxims were and are laughable: "Consider yourself as a little mud." "When doing a good work, allow another to finish and take the credit." Stupid stuff. We were never allowed to look at a man, never address a senior Sister unless spoken to, never think of oneself as having any accomplishments.
Once a week we had a session which we knew as the "Dayfee." I had never seen the word written, and had no clue that it was a corruption of auto de fe -- yes, public penance of the kind during the Inquisition. We had to confess our sins to the group, get lambasted by the Novice Mistress and do some crazy penance. We were in bootcamp and the intent was to strip us of our individual personalities.
Five years after Vatican II and the first year I entered the convent, a Council was called for the sole purpose of discussing and planning change. It was the first Democratic conference in the history of the Community. From the lowliest Postulant to the most powerful Senior Sister, all were gathered to voice an opinion. It was utterly frightening. What may seem superficial to readers here, was profound for us: modifying the habit, a transition to a college campus, freedom of course selection, expansion of careers. It was the education beyond the convent that set us free and on our way to independent thinking. And now this Pope, with his ultra conservative cohorts, wants to push these women back to the days before 1963. Why? They are scared to death.
As the Vatican is trying to wall off the "brides of Christ," Cask of Amontillado style, it is welcoming extreme-right Anglicans into the Catholic Church — the ones who are disgruntled about female priests and openly gay bishops. Il Papa is even willing to bend Rome’s most doggedly held dogma, against married priests — as long as they’re clutching the Anglicans’ Book of Common Prayer.
In jaw-dropping contrast, The Washington Post has a column today titled Is Pope Benedict a Closet Liberal? by David Gibson. Somehow Gibson views the incorporation of homophobic, women hating Anglicans, ultra-right wing sects which had seceded and the return to the Latin Mass as somehow revolutionary -- or in his words:
Thus far, Benedict's papacy has been one of constant movement and change, the sort of dynamic that liberal Catholics -- or Protestants -- are usually criticized for pursuing. In Benedict's case, this liberalism serves a conservative agenda. But his activism should not be surprising: As a sharp critic of the reforms of Vatican II, Ratzinger has long pushed for what he calls a "reform of the reform" to correct what he considers the excesses or abuses of the time.
I don't even know what that means. Nowhere does Gibson mention that some of "the excesses or abuses of the time" refers to religious women who are functioning just fine outside the control of the hierarchy.
Nuns have been castigated and even forced to leave their communities because they tried to develop an inclusive ministry which included LGBTs or worked for a social services organization which "paid for abortions." This same Pope, these same Cardinals and bishops who spent decades protecting pedophile priests, now want to punish religious women for following the tenets of the Sermon on the Mount.
Pope Benedict's vision of the "Catholic Church" is a collection of hateful and/or subservient priests and congregants. People who are incapable of thinking for themselves and can only express a faith which is dictated from the Vatican. That is not my Church. That is not the Church of tens of thousands of religious women who will not return to a second class status. Women who know what equal rights are outside the confines of a regressive institution.
I don't believe this latest Inquisition will produce the results intended. And I think a new life will be breathed into the religious communities who already realize that they have yet another transition to make.
Thank you, Ms. Dowd, for a very fine column. I believe there are many religious women who will raise a mighty "Amen."
Update: Apologies for disappearing, had a bit of emergency room drama with a neighbor. All is well and now will read your comments. Thank you for the recommends.
Substantive Update (1:58 EDT): Hat tip to ohmyheck for the following links to articles on the witchhunt:
blog.cleveland.com
New York Times
Huffington Post