And Then the Nun Lost It!

May 3, 2012
By Nicholas G. Hahn III

When the Vatican ordered the supervision of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious last month, the 1,500 members flipped their habits. They claimed to be "stunned by the conclusions of the doctrinal assessment."

Many, many liberal commentators took up their cause. Pope Benedict XVI and company, we were told, were picking on little old nuns. For shame!

But these aren't your mother's, er, sisters, as I discovered the hard way. I was at a movie screening in Beverly Hills for For Greater Glory -- a dramatization of Mexico's Catholic revolt against a viciously anti-clerical government -- and so was a Pauline sister. We got to chatting.

She initially was quite cordial. We talked about our travels and she invited me to visit her order's bookstore on Chicago's Michigan Avenue. When I asked in passing what she thought of the recent Roman order, she became irate. "The Vatican has become a patriarchal institution in need of serious change," the sister sputtered.

Now, I could have let that pass. Instead, I admitted how I thought the Bishops may have a point. And they do. The Vatican wasn't targeting all nuns. It was singling out the most activist among them, nuns who hold "public witness events" that are actually full-fledged demonstrations "promoting social, economic, and earth justice."
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Rod Dreher on Maureen Dowd
...What strikes me is the total amateurishness of a paper of the Times's caliber. Let me make this perfectly clear: I'm not objecting to the stance Dowd and Kristof are taking on the nun controversy (though I disagree with it). I'm objecting to the fact that neither columnist gives any indication of understanding the nature of the issue here, and its complexity...