LCWR assembly: some sisters disagree with panelist over response to Vatican

August 10, 2012

At the second day of the annual assembly of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), the publisher of the National Catholic Reporter called upon the sisters present to “just say no” to Vatican concerns—leading to “audible groans” from some of the sisters.

Ann Carey of the National Catholic Register reported that Tom Fox, who was taking part in a panel discussion,

seemed to be taken aback by this reaction, and he scrambled to recover. “What I mean by that is that you are who you are, and you can’t say anything other than ‘Yes’ to who you are. You cannot,” Fox said. “So how that ‘Yes’ is made, or how you say ‘No’ to abuse and misunderstanding and misrepresentation is something left to determine.”

Fox had earlier told the sisters that “it is very, very important for you to know that you are the most prayerful, most experienced, most professional, most loved and most creative women to sit under one roof at any time in history.

“And you must understand the obligations and responsibilities that that entails. … You are speaking for the future, and you are speaking to give us hope.”

 

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Further information:

• Day 2 of the LCWR Assembly: Contemplating a Response to the Vatican (National Catholic Register)
• No open discussion of Vatican demands at LCWR assembly (CWN, 8/9)