The Dialog

By TheDialog

There can be no “middle ground” on matters of faith and morals, the bishop who conducted the Vatican-ordered doctrinal assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious said in an interview that aired July 25 on National Public Radio’s “Fresh Air” program.

Bishop Leonard P. Blair of Toledo, Ohio, one of two U.S. bishops assisting Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle in providing “review, guidance and approval, where necessary, of the work” of LCWR, was responding to a call for dialogue by Franciscan Sister Pat Farrell, LCWR president, on the same program July 17.

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By Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON — Conflict between the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith over the reform of LCWR boils down to whether one can “be a Catholic and have a questioning mind,” the conference’s president said in an interview on National Public Radio’s “Fresh Air” program.

Franciscan Sister Pat Farrell also told “Fresh Air” host Terry Gross in the July 17 interview that she would like to see discussion about whether “freedom of conscience in the church (is) genuinely honored.”

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By TheDialog

Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON — The Vatican-ordered doctrinal assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious is not directed at the tens of thousands of women religious whose communities are associated with LCWR but at the actions of the organization itself, according to two bishops who are assisting in the assessment.

In separate columns for their diocesan newspapers, Bishop Leonard P. Blair of Toledo, Ohio, and Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of Springfield, Ill., criticized mistaken reporting about the intent of the assessment.

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By Francis X Rocca

Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY — Citing “serious doctrinal problems which affect many in consecrated life,” the Vatican announced a major reform of an association of women’s religious congregations in the U.S. to ensure their fidelity to Catholic teaching in areas including abortion, euthanasia, women’s ordination and homosexuality.

Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle will provide “review, guidance and approval, where necessary, of the work” of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the Vatican announced April 18. The archbishop will be assisted by Bishop Leonard P. Blair of Toledo, Ohio, and Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of Springfield, Ill., and draw on the advice of fellow bishops, women religious and other experts.

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