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According to The New York Times, the Vatican is currently conducting two broad investigations of American nuns working within society. While the Catholic Church has not officially provided specific reasons, the rationale behind the inquiries seems to be that sisters in the U.S. are a little too modern, a little too independent, and -- just perhaps -- a little too feminist:
In the last four decades since the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, many American nuns stopped wearing religious habits, left convents to live independently and went into new lines of work: academia and other professions, social and political advocacy and grass-roots organizations that serve the poor or promote spirituality. A few nuns have also been active in organizations that advocate changes in the church like ordaining women and married men as priests.American nuns might also be a bit open-minded for the Vatican's tastes, suggests one of the Church leaders behind the inquiries:
Cardinal Levada sent a letter to the Leadership Conference [of Women Religious] saying an investigation was warranted because it appeared that the organization had done little since it was warned eight years ago that it had failed to “promote” the church’s teachings on three issues: the male-only priesthood, homosexuality and the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church as the means to salvation.Now, canonical visitations are very serious things. They're provoked by accusations of grave misconduct. Like sexual abuse, financial malfeasance … and heresy. By investigating the sisterhoods that seem not to perpetuate the traditional view of submissive holy women, the Vatican is sending a message that gender equality has no place in Catholicism and is even contrary to accepted belief.It's not exactly shocking that one of the more patriarchal institutions in human history is acting in a sexist fashion. But, as someone who was raised Catholic, that doesn't make it any less disappointing to be reminded that one can't both fully love God and be an independent woman within the Church. My great aunt was a Carmelite sister, who gave up a career in New York to enter a convent well before Vatican II. I was always impressed by her decision -- she felt it was her calling, and she was willing to sacrifice a life that, by all accounts, she loved for it. I wonder, though, if she might have served God somewhat differently if the Church had allowed her to.--Alexandra Gutierrez
