E.J. Dione on the Vatican and the heretic nuns

E.J. Dione has a characteristically witless post on the Vatican discipline of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, a heretical claque of far-left nuns who ostensibly represent 80% of American sisters. Like many organizations that represent people with such far-ranging interests, the LCWR has become dominated by leftist crackpots who pursue their own ideological agenda at the expense of the people they nominally represent. The Vatican has imposed a firm but fair crackdown on the organization, the leadership of which should be glad they weren't excommunicated.

Dione, with my commentary:

The Vatican is reining in the leadership conference that represents 80 percent of American Catholic nuns, accusing the group of “serious doctrinal problems” and promoting “radical feminist themes.” That seems a misreading of the very fine work in schools, charities, prisons and impoverished neighborhoods being done by about 60,000 nuns across the nation.

Drop the scare quotes, E.J.. Serious doctrinal problems and promoting radical feminist themes has been the hallmark of the organization for decades. It's a lefty crackpot organization. In fact, the 60,000 nuns who do God's work throughout our country have been betrayed by the radical heretics at LCWR who claim to represent them.

These nuns and their leaders continued to bolster the reputation of the Roman Catholic Church even as it suffered one of its greatest scandals in the sexual abuse of schoolchildren by rogue priests and the cover-ups by diocesan authorities. 

The Catholic sex abuse scandal is part of a culture-wide epidemic of sexual abuse that exploded in the 1960's, largely as a consequence of the cultural changes championed by the left. 'Copulate with anything that moves' is the anthem of Sexual Revolution, the quite legitimate child of the radical left-- i.e. the ideology embraced by the LCWR.

That the organization that claims to represent most U.S. nuns would echo the ideological pabulum of the 'if it feels good do it' radical left is another scandal. It would be like Scientologists complaining about crackpot religions. The LCWR is securely in the ideological camp of the molesters.

Dione also mentions the Catholic sexual scandal because that is de-rigueur for journalists-- Catholic and otherwise-- who hate the Church. Dione has it as a macro on his word-processor.

The Vatican has now appointed a bishop to oversee the operations of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious — the 1,500 superiors who run the sisters’ communities — citing individual nuns at conference gatherings challenging church teaching on homosexuality and the male-only priesthood. The announcement also accused the group’s leaders of focusing too much on poverty and economic injustice while allegedly keeping “silent” on abortion and same-sex marriage. 

Dione is lying. He knows full well that the LCWR was not chastised for "focusing too much on poverty and economic injustice". LCWR was disciplined for confusing leftist ideology for Catholic teaching. The Catholic Church is the greatest champion of the poor and of economic justice in the world. The teaching is based on a comprehensive respect for human rights including the non-negotiable right to life and the sanctity of marriage and on the principle of subsidiarity, all of which are anathema to the left. Leftist ideology of the sort embraced by the LCWR has killed countless millions of the poorest of the poor-- children in the womb-- and has destroyed families and perverted prudent governance by championing massive state power over individuals and families.

The LCWR's dream of 'economic justice' is Greece with lots of abortions.

A crucial focus in the inquiry appears to be the fact that dozens of American nuns involved in the conference and in antipoverty and hospital work provided prominent support to President Obama’s health care reform. Conference leaders said Vatican investigators had pointedly raised the issue and the fact that the conference had split with American bishops, who opposed reform. 

Obamacare is a manifest violation of the Catholic principle of subsidiarity, which is the teaching that social action should take place as close to the family and individual as possible. Action at the federal level should be restricted to matters that can only be done at the national level-- national defense, national parks, regulation of interstate commerce, etc. Health care is a local matter unrelated to federal power, and the foundational Catholic principle of subsidiarity precludes federal control.

Furthermore, the Obama administration is engaged in manifest war with the Church, and obviously hopes to extinguish Catholic influence in American life. Its unconstitutional contraceptive mandate is plainly intended to force the Church out of all aspects of civic life except worship. Catholics who supported this salient have a lot to answer for.

The sisters’ leaders said they reaffirmed their opposition to abortion...

Support for Obama and for the left is support for abortion.

...but also claimed the right to speak out on a “moral imperative” like health care, just as the bishops had.

Bishops teach the Magisterium and determine Church policy. Nuns implement the Bishop's decisions. If they don't like it, they can leave the Church. Really,  they have already left the Church.

The nuns clearly are caught in a classic crossfire of church doctrine, politics and hierarchical obedience. It would be a tragedy, far beyond the church, if their fine work and their courageous voices were constrained.

It is the LCWR that is injecting politics into Church affairs, parroting hard-left ideology and overt political support for an Administration and a political party that is overtly hostile to a broad range of Catholic teaching and hostile even to the Church itself. Being a Catholic and especially a religious is all about Church doctrine and hierarchical obedience. Christ's Body ain't no democracy.

If the heretics of the LCWR don't like it, they should make their break with the Church explicit. They will be received with open arms by libs like Dione, and countless others who work feverishly to destroy the Body of Christ.