The apostolic visitation into the life of women’s religious orders in
the US has concluded a new phase, wrapping up on-site visits to
religious orders.
Mother Mary Clare Millea, who is conducting the apostolic visitation on
behalf of the Congregation for Religious, met last weekend with the 58
people who had carried out the on-site visits, and encouraged them to
share their personal insights as well as more formal reports.
Mother
Millea is preparing a full report on the life of women’s religious
orders in the US, to be submitted to the Vatican by the end of 2011.
Archbishop Joseph Tobin, the American-born secretary of the Congregation
for Religious, attended the 3-day meeting that concluded this phase of
the inquiry.
Mother Millea said that the archbishop “expressed the
continued support of the Congregation” for the “ongoing revitalization
of religious life in the United States.”
The apostolic visitation has been dogged by controversy since its
outset.
Some prominent American nuns strongly objected to the Vatican
inquiry, in some cases refusing to cooperate with the investigation,
because they feared a Vatican crackdown on women’s religious orders.
Defenders of the apostolic visitation have pointed to the steep decline
in membership of traditional religious orders as clear evidence that
some reform is necessary.
But when he was appointed as secretary of the
Congregation for Religious last year, Archbishop Tobin said that women
religious should have nothing to fear from the Vatican inquiry.