The Leadership Conference of Women Religious
(LCWR), the association of the leaders of congregations of Catholic
women religious in the United States which is being monitored by the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was proud to announce that it
has been awarded the Herbert Haag 2013.
The Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith is pushing for a revision of the LCWR’s statutes.
The Haag Foundation stated that the 2013 prize was
awarded to the LCWR in recognition of its extensive efforts in helping
the poor, the marginalised and people in difficult circumstances and of “their
careful reflection of the signs of the times in the spirit of the
Second Vatican Council,” making the nuns “a pillar of the Catholic
Church in the United States of America.”
In the statement, the Foundation gives a critical appraisal of the LCWR’s current situation.
It expressly stated that the “women religious, and especially their leaders, stand in the eye of an ecclesiastical storm”
as a result of these efforts.
In April, the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith issued a firm communiqué revealing doctrinal
errors in the organisation’s proceedings.
A number of the nuns’ social
initiatives were considered not to be in line with Magisterium of the
Catholic Church.
In recent years, books published by some female
theologians have been censored by the Congregation for the Doctrine of
the Faith.
April’s communiqué announced the establishment of a
commission of bishops that would be responsible for dialogue between the
Church and the LCWR, to bring the organisation’s activities back in
line with the Holy See’s requirements.
The thorniest issues include the organisation’s
initiatives for dialogue with the gay community and the more feminist
fringes of U.S. Catholicism who openly favour the ordination of women
bishops.
Following the failed investigation into the female
Congregations, launched by Franc Rodé, the then Prefect of the
Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life, in 2009, the task of
looking into the alleged “doctrinal errors” in the LCWR’s statutes was
passed on to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
The Foundation’s communiqué noted that “the
accusations of the Roman Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith are
without any substantial foundation and are the result of an
unsatisfactory investigation process that lacks transparency.”
It added
that “the intervention of the Roman Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith is looked upon as a scandal by many Catholics, especially in the
United States.”
Now the LCWR has been awarded the Herbert Haag Prize for
2013 for Freedom in the Church.
The prize honours the memory of
theologian Haag (1915-2001), professor for Old Testament at the
University of Tubingen (Germany).
The prize giving ceremony will be held
on 14 April 2013 in Lucerne (Switzerland).