Since the early 19th century in the American West it was nuns, not the bishops that laid the foundation for many of the institutions that make up the world we live in. Built on the backs of these women were hospitals, foundations and universities that exist to this day.
In this edition of the paper, we talked with local women religious, priests, and others working in a different kind of frontier, the one laden with poverty, homelessness and conflict. It’s a grey world, fraught with challenging options and no easy answers. In this world, there is birth control, gay rights, even abortion — and almost as important, there is community organization, political empowerment, and partnerships in advocacy and social justice.
So when the Vatican issued the edict to reform the progressive sisterhood of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, it seems almost as if it’s coming from another world, far removed from reality. It is a move by bishops in Rome to clamp down and reverse the gears of the national organization, its 1,500 members, and the 50,000 women religious they represent.
Judging by the backlash from inside and outside the Catholic Church, it will fail.
The bishops’ move to take over the organization has drawn protests from Catholics across the country, and allied organizations to speak out on behalf of the nuns, their work and their message. The bishops themselves defend the individuals, and say this action is only against the organization. However, the nuns have come together in solidarity around the LCWR, speaking as one voice through the organization that was created to provide leadership and develop leaders on the ground. And on the ground, everyone is in agreement: The work in the trenches will go unimpeded.
In fact, the only visible support for the takeover is ultra-conservative commentators on websites seemingly dedicated to the liberal purging of the church. It’s a landscape Street Roots has traveled through before, having been targeted by conservative Catholic watchdogs for our Rose City Resource, a pocket guide of services and agencies for people experiencing homelessness and poverty. As a result, Street Roots was cut off from funding from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development because the booklet listings include Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest provider of medical care for low-income women. For the same reason, that booklet will no longer be distributed by Providence Hospital, a Catholic institution, for fear of appearing to endorse Planned Parenthood, an abortion provider.
Fear is a challenge in any frontier, and the nuns should be commended for not letting that stand in the way of their work with people, one on one, amid the reality on the streets. Whether it fits religious doctrine or not, that reality exists for thousands of people in Portland, deserving of both a church and organizations that are brave enough to speak out against injustice. We commend the nuns and women priests for all of their hard work and courage.