The first was an editorial entitled The future of women Religious

Perhaps no segment of the Church has experienced such upheaval in the last. 40 years as women Religious. Some orders have virtually imploded from the stress of change and clash of agendas. Others have suffered from a spiritual ennui that has withered vocations

What many of this country's struggling religious orders have in common is a collapse of identity. Community has broken down. The evangelistic fervor that once was unafraid to champion the Gospel turned inward, and more energy has been expended on surviving, or seeking the accolades of society, than in living out a founder's charism in the service of the Gospel and Christ's Church. Theirs was no longer a faith to die for or a Church to serve, and therefore theirs have been orders with little to inspire young women eager to give their lives to Christ.

There are signs of hope: Young orders are springing up. Older orders are truly renewed and now attracting vocations.

Such signs, unfortunately, have generally taken place out of the media spotlight, which remains focused on the good guy/bad guy story of dissidents locked in power struggles with Church authorities.

This week we report on two such figures: Sisters Joan Chittister and Jeannine Gramick. Both rejected Vatican requests that they refrain from doing something that they felt was justified to continue. The result has been an unedifying confrontation that has put the Vatican in the position of either backing down or cracking down (see next story).

Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister recently provoked a controversy by speaking at a conference on women's ordination, despite a Vatican request that she not - a request her prioress refused to give her.

School Sister of Notre Dame Jeannine Gramick was directed to stop her ministry to homosexuals, and is now in the process of transferring to the Sisters of Loretto, an order less likely to be amenable to Vatican pressure.

To a certain extent, however, the Vatican's response to both challenges is irrelevant to the future of women Religious. High-profile dissenters may attract media attention, but that will do little to bolster their orders or inspire the change they seek. In truth, anyone attracted to such battles is in a distinct minority, and the more likely result of such dissent is to make a religious order even less attractive, except perhaps for those Religious already shopping for a tolerant environment.

Such is the Darwinian rule of the jungle when it comes to dissent. Orders that seek conflict and confrontation will slowly but surely become dinosaurs. Orders that renew themselves, remaining obedient to the Church and eager to find ways to serve it are more likely to thrive.

Historians will debate whether the Vatican could have intervened more effectively to alter the fate of yesterday's religious orders. But that moment passed, and we can still only see the future through a glass darkly.

Come what may, however, it is best to remember the words of Pope John Paul II, who in 1996 said that "by persevering faithfully in the consecrated life, consecrated persons confess with great effectiveness before the world their unwavering trust in the Lord of history... " This still describes the majority of women Religious in this country, who have persevered in difficult times, remaining true to their vows and serving the People of God with distinction.

The next article is entitled, Whatever happened to the vow of obedience? With the sub-title, High-profile U.S. nun' responses to Vatican correctives raise questions of proper respect for Church authority.

What is the relationship of vowed Religious women and men to Church authority? What does the vow of obedience mean? These questions are being raised anew as some prominent American sisters have been making headlines recently by defying Vatican directives.Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister addressed the first Women's Ordination worldwide conference in Dublin, Ireland, this summer, even though the Vatican directed her prioress to prohibit her from doing so.

The prioress , Sister Christine Vladimiroff, declined to give Sister Chittister the Vatican directive, saying that she did not feel Sister Chittister's participation was a source of scandal, as the Vatican alleged.

School Sister of Notre Dame Jeannine Gramick and Salvatorian Father Robert Nugent were directed by the Vatican in 1999 to stop their ministry to homosexuals because of the "errors and ambiguities" of their approach, and to refrain from discussing the Vatican discipline.

Sister Gramick has said publicly that she refuses to be silenced, and she continues on the lecture circuit. Her canonical situation has become even more complicated, as she reportedly has begun the process of transferring from her order to the Sisters of Loretto.

Nicholas Cafardi, a civil and canon lawyer who is dean of the Duquesne University School of Law, told Our Sunday Visitor that the Church is a hierarchical institution with clear chains of authority. The Vatican congregations operate at the level of the Holy Father, he said, and they in turn relate to the religious orders through the generalate of the order, which relates to provinces, which relate to local houses and their members.

"Eventually, there reaches a point where you either recognize the authority or you don't" Cafardi said. Canon Law carries few automatic penalties, he noted, but rather the Church follows a very deliberate penal process to protect the rights of the person involved.

PROBLEMATIC MINISTRY

That process for Sister Gramick began in 1988, when the Vatican appointed a commission to study and evaluate the statements and activities of Sister Gramick and Father Nugent, her colleague in New Ways Ministry.

In 1994, the commission issued a report saying their work was harmful to the faith. After several exchanges between the parties, the Vatican notified Sister Gramick and Father Nugent on May 31, 1999, that they were permanently prohibited from any pastoral work with homosexuals. A subsequent notification prohibited them from speaking about homosexuality or the Vatican discipline.

Father Nugent accepted the directive, but Sister Gramick said she would not be silenced. The SSND superior general in Rome then called on Sister Gramick to obey, citing the fact that Religious "live and work within the Church and are to respect the magisterium and its legitimate authority."

Immediately, several groups of women Religious rushed to support Sister Gramick, including the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, the Erie Benedictine Sisters and the Sisters of Loretto.

The Sisters of Loretto are an American order with administrative offices in Denver and the motherhouse in the Diocese of Louisville, Ky. The leadership of the sisters of Loretto has tangled with the Vatican over the order's structure and governance. Published proceedings from the July 2OOO Loretto Assembly report a "statement of support and affirmation" for Sister Gramick in "her stand of conscience." The possibility of Sister Grammick transferring to the Sisters of Loretto came up at that assembly.

Sister Gramick refused comment about her status for this article, and the Baltimore Province of the School Sisters of Notre Dame did not reply by press time. However, the 2001 Loretto community director indicates Sister Grammick is in the vowed membership-transfer process, and her address is the same address used in the past by New Ways Ministry.

Cafardi told Our Sunday Visitor that a Religious who is in the transfer process is still subject to obedience of the original order for three years. He said that once a "precept" is given by the Vatican, as it was in Sister Gramick's case, a process to impose a penalty would begin only after two warnings from the Vatican.

GOSPEL QUESTION

While Sister Chittister has not received a precept from the Vatican, she told Our Sunday Visitor that silencing is not good for the Church. "I do not want to be part of what makes the Church unaccountable to the Gospel where the question of the full development and equality of women is concerned" she said.

Sister Chittister added: "Benedictine obedience calls us to listen to the voices around us - Scripture, the community, the world and the prioress - and then to make the best possible decision in the light of the circumstances."

But what happens when that decision is in conflict with Church authority? Does this impact the status of the person as a vowed Religious?

"Vowed religious are subject to the authority of the Holy See," Cafardi confirmed, "but so is every Catholic. Eventually, you just have to consider what it means to be a Catholic, and to be Catholic means you have to be in union with the Church in its sacraments, in its beliefs and in its governance. Those are the three basics. You can't say: "I'm a Catholic, but I don't accept the Church's authority."

Yet this is the very message many believe is being sent by some prominent Religious who follow a pattern of challenging the Church, often with no repercussions. And this message, say some Religious who have talked to 0ur Sunday Visitor, damages religious life, discourages vocations and diminishes the reputations of all Religious women and men.

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