With Sr. Gladys Sharkey, OSF, who celebrates 60 years of consecrated life and service to the people of God! Photo kindness of Dana Rozance.

Within forty-nine hours of each other, I had the wonderful occasion to spend time with sixteen sisters (view photos by clicking here) who will or have celebrated major anniversaries of their life in religion and with the retired priests of the Diocese of St. Petersburg as well as elsewhere in North America. Both are annual occasions but what made them very enjoyable this year is that both occasions occured within the penumbra of Thanksgiving.

Regular readers of this blog should already know of my love and fondness for our sisters and the few brothers who are either active or retired and living in the diocese. The sisters have a hard time with the Church at times when it seems that they only arouse interest when someone or some part of the ecclesial bureaucracy is angry or frustrated with them. They often do not hear or do not hear often enough words of thanksgiving and gratitude from the likes of myself and would have reason to wonder if anyone even cares any more.

Of the sixteen of twenty-four who are celebrating anniversaries this year, there were two Benedictine sisters (blood sisters as well as sisters in religious life) who are celebrating eighty years of professed life. Imagine, they left their homes in Texas in 1932 to travel to San Antonio, Florida, and begin eight decades of witness to their Lord according to the rule of Benedict and Scholastica. The great depression was just getting rolling when they committed themselves and Hitler and his evil empire had not yet begun to make its presence known in Germany or Europe. Both taught school for years and years.

There were no twenty-five year or silver anniversary jubilarians this year (they are getting less and less) but there were a good number of golden (50) and diamond (60). One can’t help but love them. Their stories which are briefly summarized as they get a $25 gift certificate to Barnes and Noble (am I cheap, or what?) are always amazing. We would not be where we are were it not for the great work of these great women over the years. They know I both admire and love them and I suspect every reader of this post does as well. Health, happiness and holiness are my prayers for Brother Chris of Tampa Catholic and the sisters with whom we shared both the Eucharistic table on Saturday as well as a nice, simple meal. One requirement last Saturday, however, smacking of my memory of sisters of previous decades – we had to be through and back in place for the kick-off of Notre Dame’s amazing eleventh win against no losses. No losses in these jubilarians either – they are precious before the eyes of the Lord.

On Monday, I celebrated Mass (view photos by clicking here) at the Bethany Center for about sixty-two of the retired priests who reside within the five counties of the Diocese. We have about thirty-four retired priests of the diocese and another forty or fifty from other dioceses in the U.S. and Canada who spend either part of or the whole year here with us.

With our retired priests at the St. James Chapel at the Bethany Retreat Center. Photo kindness of Maria Mertens.

Many of them have no place to go for Thanksgiving and were it not for our annual Mass and outing, there might be no turkey and all the trimmings for them. They are always so appreciative and those from other dioceses are amazed that they are invited and welcomed to this event. Unable to be present this year but in 2013 to be celebrating their seventieth anniversaries of ordination are Monsignor George Cummings and Benedictine Father James Hoge. Both are approaching or have reached their ninety-fifth birthday and there is a Franciscan Father who is also at or soon to reach this threshold.

I often suggest to our priests that we do not reflect enough on the “shoulders of the giants” on which we walk and among our retired diocesan priests, there are to be found outstanding examples of priestly zeal, courage, fidelity and effective ministry.

With both groups I reflected on the fiftieth anniversary of the Second Vatican Council which we are beginning to observe. More about that in forthcoming reflections here. For the meantime, even though my brother from Buffalo is arriving to spend Thanksgiving with his son and wife who live here and his grandaughter of two and his 8/9s of grandchild number two, a great part of my Thanksgiving has already been observed with my friends.

Finally, I would be a real ingrate if I did not thank God for all of you whom it is my privilege to serve, and I will tonight and tomorrow, at Mass and throughout the day. HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL.

+RNL

My earlier blog post on the situation between the Holy See’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) engendered more than its fair share of disagreement from usually friendly sources. As a follow up, I would like to add some additional reflections which follow on events since the publication of the Doctrinal Assessment by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith.

Last week the LCWR concluded its annual meeting, held this year in St. Louis, Missouri. At its conclusion, its leadership issued a statement which can be read by clicking here. I can not compliment the leadership enough for their thoughtful, reflective, and very ecclesial approach to a very difficult moment in Church relations. At no time did the elected leadership react in an angry manner, flame the fires of a potential fight, or descend into name calling. They kept their calm and showed real class. In a long interview on the public radio program “Fresh Air,” their president, Sister Pat Farrell, expressed her (and presumably her fellow leaders) bewilderment and hurt at the Vatican Declaration, but it was done in a respectful manner. However, what I admire the most at this moment is that going into and during their national meeting, the sisters prayed and dialogued among themselves, with no leaks and no search for grabbing headlines. I am not sure my own United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) could have accomplished that on an occasion which did manage to garner considerable national attention. The final statement indicates that the LCWR is willing to open a dialogue with the three bishops while hoping that they are not asked to compromise on what they hold important in their life and ministry.

On the PR front, the sisters gained a lot more support than “the bishops” did, or so it would seem. Bishop Leonard Blair, one of the three appointed bishops, also appeared on an interview with “Fresh Air” and did the best he could. I say this because I thought a lot of time was spent questioning the bishop on the question of the credibility of the bishops in light of the sexual abuse scandals rather than on the LCWR issue – dots that are difficult for me to connect, perhaps, because I am a bishop. I know of no bishop in this country who does not admire, love and support the women religious in his diocese. I also believe that the bishops have been somewhat restrained in their comments on the matter, except to do as I did and hope and pray for a sucessful conclusion. I also do not wish to waiver from my belief that from the Holy See’s perspective, Archbishop J. Peter Sartain is a great choice to chair what I hope will be a successful dialogue with the leadership of the majority of religious sisters.

Thanks to the leadership of the sisters, the true work of dialogue and reconciliation can now begin.

+RNL

Last week it was revealed that the Holy See’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had released an action taken against the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, a canonically recognized organization consisting as the title says, of heads of women’s religious orders and communities. The report from the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith (“CDF” hereinafter) was quite critical of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (“LCWR” hereinafter) and took several steps widely perceived to be against them. For me it is important to say several things:

1. Religious women (nuns) in the United States have played and continue to play an extremely important and vital role in the life of our Church. Sadly while their number is drastically declining those remaining hold positions of trust, leadership, and competence throughout the Church in the US. The CDF statement did not and could not call into question the great work of these women.

I like many of you reading this, love the sisters and that fact is no where more visible than in the reality that the annual collection for retired religious has been from inception and continues to be the largest second collection in the Church in the United States – triple what is given for Peter’s Pence and double what is given for Catholic Relief Services, to use two examples.

2. From time to time, various offices of the Holy See have taken it upon themselves to investigate and attempt to change other bodies extant in the Church. In the mid-eighties, the Congregation of Bishops in Rome had national episcopal conferences in their sight, due in no small part to their concern about the growing influence in the public square of the United States Catholic Conference which was garnering worldwide attention and acclaim for the twin pastoral letters on war and peace and the economy.Not lost on certain people in Rome was the fact that a picture of the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago (and chair of the committee which wrote the pastoral on war and peace) appeared on the cover of TIME magazine before that of Pope John Paul II. The end result was a document from the Holy Father defining the limits of the teaching authority of episcopal conferences and who could vote and not vote among the bishops on matters. At the time it seemed like the sun was crashing down on post-conciliar collegiality but in the end, little changed.

I mention that because to someone who does not understand the praxis of the Holy See, it would seem that the Holy Father dislikes American religious women. Several actions would seem to reinforce this conclusion which I do not believe to be true. A few years ago when the visitation and evaluation of religious communities in the US was announced it also seemed like doomsday yet that has not and is likely not to be the case. The Holy Father actually has appointed a Prefect and Secretary of the Congregation for Religious (it has a much longer title) who are strongly supportive of religious sisters and especially the situation in the U.S. American religious sisters began to experience relief when these two bishops began their work. I would bet a dollar to a donut that they knew little to nothing about last week’s paper from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in advance. That is not the way things work over there – there is “turf” protection and a pecking order of significance and competencies among the various Congregations and Councils.

3. So my words to my sisters in this diocese would be to relax somewhat. You are still loved and appreciated by your Church. The appointment of an incredibly fair and compassionate man like Archbishop Peter Sartain to see this process through is a hopeful sign in itself and I am not simply trying to apply “a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down.” There have been other bishops appointed over the last few decades to “study American religious life and make appropriate changes” such as the one in the eighties chaired by Archbishop John R. Quinn. Disaster has never struck.

4. American Catholics who read the secular media are getting an introduction to how terribly the media understand the Church. Editorials have appeared all over the place supporting the sisters and condemning the Pope, Rome, bishops, men, etc., etc. The notion of a hierarchical Church is both foreign, inimical and anathema to current liberal, freethinking and secularist thought. I laud the media for their support of religious women in the United States but I also find something almost comical about how they visualize Church structure. They will not be around in a few years when the leadership of LCWR and Archbishop Sartain ascertain a way in which both can peacefully co-exist because there will be no story there. Yet that is precisely the story. From moments like this, monumental change rarely results and sometimes a deeper relationship replaces something which is frayed, tattered and/or torn. I have great faith that as in the past, both sides will make this work. Sisters love the Church which they have served because they love its founder, Jesus, who at times called all of us to live a radical ethic. The current seeming tempest at sea can and will be calmed and we will continue to love and support our sisters.

+RNL