In the light of this, there is an “apostolic visitation” being conducted by a Vatican-appointed nun to look at whether women religious in the USA have strayed from the party line and how far they have strayed. There are many in the Vatican who would prefer to see women religious back in habits, cloistered in their convents.
It is in this atmosphere that the Leadership Conference of Women Religious in the USA is meeting in Dallas, Texas. Richard Gaillardetz, Murray/Bacik Professor of Catholic Studies at the University of Toledo, was a keynote speaker at the conference on Thursday and he said what American women’s religious communities are experiencing today have implications for all Catholics. Similarly, how the women respond have important implications, perhaps even offering a vision of how to go forward as a church comprised of members with varied ministries.
Excerpt from National Catholic Reporter: 'Women religious experiences have implications for entire church'
Offering guidance, Gaillardetz drew upon what he said are six elements of the Vatican council’s emerging ecclesiological vision.1. The priority of baptism which replaces a pre-conciliar “hierocratic view of the church.” “Baptism called Christians to their most basic and primal identity within the life of the church, more basic than any identity conferred by either ordination or public consecration.” The council, he said, described the church as a society of equals. “In a church in which many of our leaders are still addressed as ‘your Holiness,’ ‘your Eminence,’ ‘your Grace’ and ‘your Excellency,’ we can be forgiven for wondering whether anyone is taking this teaching seriously!”
2. A view of the church constituted by the Holy Spirit and built up by gifts “both hierarchic and charismatic.” This “theology of charism,” he said, provides the basis for a new understanding of apostolic religious communities. “Professed religious life is not an auxiliary to hierarchical office but rather participates in a charismatic ecclesial economy.” He explained that in this view “the bishops are to be shepherds and custodians of the apostolic faith, but their office exists not for its own sake but in service of the church’s mission.”
3. The sense of the faithful, which holds that Word of God is addressed not just to the hierarchy, but to the whole church. The theologian explained that once Catholics believed that revelation was channeled exclusively through the magisterium; now the council taught that the Word of God is addressed to the whole church. Although the bishops play a unique role as custodians of the apostolic faith, the entire church is called to listen to God’s Word.
4. Conciliar humility in which the church was called to collaborate with all humanity. “The church guards the heritage of God’s word and draws from it moral and religious principles without always having at hand the solution to particular problems.”
5. An eschatological vision of the church always needing reform. Said Gaillardetz: “Vatican II taught that the church, although accompanied by the Holy Spirit, is nevertheless a human institution which is far from perfect. Indeed the council admitted that the church will achieve its perfection ‘only in the glory of heaven.’ The church is a pilgrim community that, like all pilgrims, has a sense of where it is headed but has not yet arrived.”
6. The church as missionary in nature, meaning, Gaillardetz said, that it is not of ultimate importance - its mission is. The council, he said, “oriented the church toward service of God’s reign in the world.
Sources include
http://www.apostolicvisitation.org/en/index.html
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