WUNRN
Associated Press
January 31, 2009
The
Vatican has begun a first-ever comprehensive study of women's religious orders
in the United States, four decades into a steep decline in the number of Roman
Catholic sisters and nuns in the country.
The study, ordered by a Vatican congregation in December and announced Friday
in Washington, will examine "the quality of the life" of 59,000
members in more than 400 Catholic women's religious institutes, said Sister
Eva-Maria Ackerman, a spokeswoman for the study, which is called an apostolic
visitation.
"The
study is really to encourage the communities, to strengthen them, to help them
grow in their vitality," she said, adding that "women's religious
communities have played such a significant part in building up the church and
society in this country."
The Vatican released results of a similar canvass of U.S. seminaries this month
in light of the clergy sexual abuse crisis. That review gave special attention
to chastity and celibacy, and the Vatican found that seminaries had largely
been successful in rooting out "homosexual behavior."
The reasoning behind the Vatican's focus on women's religious orders is less
clear. studyA website on
the said the church wanted "to safeguard and promote consecrated life
in the United States."
It also said "many new
congregations have emerged in the United States, while many others have
decreased in membership or have an increased median age."
The number of Catholic sisters in the U.S. declined from 173,865 in 1965 to
79,876 in 2000, according to Georgetown University's Center for Applied
Research in the Apostolate. The average age of a member of a women's religious
community was between 65 and 70 in 1999, the center says.
"The numbers tell you everything one needs to know why they're undertaking
an effort like this," said Russell Shaw, a former spokesman for the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops who called the church's interest "very late
in the game."
"For many of these communities, the handwriting is on the wall. They're
disappearing," he said.
Historically, Catholic sisters concentrated on teaching and healthcare. Since
the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s, many
sisters have become activists of social causes, such as protesting nuclear
weapons and marching with migrant farmworkers. Some also advocate for women to
be ordained as priests or challenge church teaching against abortion rights or
gay marriage.
In recent years, newly formed traditional orders -- whose members dress in
habits, show fidelity to Rome and focus on education, healthcare and social
work -- have reported growth. More established orders that tend to take more
progressive social stances have seen their numbers of vocations dwindle.
"The Vatican may be asking the question, 'Why is this happening, and is
there something these more traditional orders offer that the more progressive
orders can learn from?' " said the Rev. Jim Martin, editor of the Jesuit
magazine America.
The Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the nation's largest association
of Catholic female religious communities, said it was informed of the study in
a bulletin Friday.
"We hope that the results of the apostolic visitation will demonstrate the
vitality and depth of the life and service of women religious in the United
States," the conference said in a statement.
The study, expected to be completed by 2011, will be limited to women's
religious communities doing work in the church and society and will exclude
cloistered and contemplative orders.
================================================================
To contact the list administrator, or to leave the list, send an email to: wunrn_listserve-request@lists.wunrn.com.
Thank you.