Denver, Colo., Mar 7, 2018 / 03:19 pm (CNA).- Last week, the women’s edition of a magazine distributed in the Vatican published an article claiming that religious sisters in the Church are poorly treated and economically exploited.
The article appeared in Women Church World, a monthly women’s magazine published by L’Osservatore Romano, the newspaper of Vatican City. The Associated Press called the story an “exposé on the underpaid labor and unappreciated intellect of religious sisters.”
In the article, three religious sisters, whose names have been changed, expressed that the work of women religious is undervalued, that sisters are treated poorly by the priests and bishops they serve, and that they are not recognized or paid fairly for their work.
One nun, identified only as Sr. Marie, said that nuns often work long hours in domestic roles for little pay. She also lamented that some sisters are not invited to eat at the same table with the clergy that they serve, causing frustration and resentment.
Another sister in the article lamented that sisters with advanced degrees are sometimes tasked with menial tasks.
“I met some nuns in possession of a doctorate in theology who have been sent to cook or wash the dishes the following day, a mission free from any connection with their intellectual formation and without a real explanation,” said a religious sister identified in the article as Sr. Paule.
But several religious sisters have told CNA that the article does not reflect their experiences in religious life.
Mother M. Maximilia Um, who is the Provincial Superior of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George in Alton, Illinois, said that the article might indicate specific problems in particular sisters’ situations, rather than systemic institutional problems.
“None of the concerns or problems pointed out in this article can really be completely dismissed, but…I don’t think that they can be confined to relationships between men and women, and those who are ordained and those who are not,” she said. “I suppose in the end it’s a problem as old as sin.”
While Mother Maximilia’s order of sisters mostly serve in health care and education positions, they have “quite a history” of serving in the households of priests or bishops, like the sisters in the article.
However, the views of the sisters in the article do not reflect “the very real experience our sisters have had in these apostolates, where there is real care and concern shown for the sisters and for their service,” she said.
Mother Marie Julie is the Superior General of the Sisters of Charity of Our Lady, Mother of the Church, headquartered in Connecticut, whose apostolates are primarily in health care and education. Their charism is “to serve the people of God in a spirit of heartfelt simplicity.”
“So by our charism, we’re not looking to get our name in lights, we’re not looking for adulation or praise or notice even, we just want to be in the heart of the Church, and I think that’s pretty much the feeling of most religious congregations and their members,” Mother Marie told CNA.
She added that she was “saddened” by the L’Osservatore Romano article, because, she said, it paints a “misleading and bleak picture” of religious life, and does not emphasize the gift of the vocation, both to the consecrated individual and to the Church at large.
“There are disgruntled people everywhere, and also I have to admit there is probably some truth to what was written in that article, I can’t say that those people have never had any of those experiences,” she said. “But that has not been my experience or the experience of those sisters that I know.”
Rather than a feeling of servitude, religious sisters typically feel that they are daughters of the Church, and are loved and respected as such, said Mother Judith Zuniga, O.C.D., Superior General of the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles, California.
“I feel and know myself to be a daughter of the Church, which in essence means that the Church is my Mother and I sincerely love her,” Mother Judith told CNA by email.
“If there is sexism and discrimination, my sisters and I have not experienced it. There seems to be more a feeling of respect, affection, and gratitude for the services we render, for who we are. This would be the more standard response we’ve received from people within and outside the Church,” she said.
When it comes to monetary compensation, Mother Maximilia noted that while the salaries or stipends of a sister doing domestic work might be less than what she might make in other apostolates, “that was never an issue for us because first of all we see this as a real service to the church,” she said. Furthermore, the households in which sisters served often provided other compensation, such as meals or lodging.
“I feel like we were always adequately compensated for service,” she said.
Mother Marie told CNA that sometimes, if a particular parish is struggling, the sisters serving there might be paid less, or paid later as the funds come in, but “those are the parishes that are struggling, that is not the norm by any stretch of the imagination,” she noted.
“We don’t expect that we would live simply on the love of God, we have to have insurance and we have responsibilities and overhead,” Mother Marie said. “But when that happens – when we’re in a ministry and we’re not paid adequately as the world would see it – that’s not servitude, that’s Gospel, and that’s a privilege,” she said.
Religious sisters in the Church typically make three vows – those of poverty, chastity and obedience. During the celebration of the final profession of those vows, a sister often lies prostrate, face down, before the altar and the cross, in a symbolic gesture that she is giving up her old life and rising with Christ as someone who totally belongs to him, Mother Marie said.
That moment is “one of the holiest moments of our lives as sisters,” Mother Marie said.
“When we laid our lives at the service of the Gospel, we also laid at the foot of the altar our expectations for what we would gain in life,” in terms of worldly success or recognition, she said. Instead, “our hope is that we would gain souls, and I know that that might sound sort of Pollyannish, but that’s what gets us up in the morning,” she added.
Regarding the complaint that sisters with advanced degrees might be working in positions of service that are considered less intellectually stimulating, Mother Maximilia said that kind of thinking reveals a bias about what makes work valuable.
“The thought that [intellectual work] is objectively more valuable is already a biased opinion,” Mother Maximilia said.
“The point of any work is to serve and love God and neighbor, and I think actually that shows itself in a very particular way in direct service to a person’s needs,” she said.
“I would argue that it often is very intellectual work to balance and manage a household, so I think first of all we have a skewered notion of what valuable work is, and I would accentuate that what makes work valuable in the end is love, and we’ve always understood that service to the clergy is primarily that,” Mother Maximilia said.
It is natural, Mother Marie noted, that a religious sister with an advanced degree would want to work in her field of expertise at least for a time, and that is often the plan for those sisters. However, sometimes extenuating circumstances necessitate that sisters serve in other apostolates.
“If God calls us to do something else either through our superiors or the signs of the times or just through events, then we respond to that…we see that as the will of God,” she said.
When a sister is serving in a position that may not have been her first choice, it is not unlike the sacrifices that mothers and fathers make for their families, she added, such as staying up all night with a sick child, or taking a lower paying position in order to have more time for their family.
“That’s done for love, and it’s love that drives what we do, and a recognition of this great gift that we have,” as consecrated people, she said.
Mother Judith added that while education is a good and necessary thing, it is not ultimately the measure by which souls will be judged at the end of their lives.
“In the final analysis, when we come to the end of our life and we come before the Lord, I think it’s safe to say that He’s not going to ask us how many degrees we had or how we used our education,” she said. “He’s going to ask us how we loved.”
Mother Judith noted that the article misses, as contemporary culture often misses, the gifts that women in their femininity bring to the world, regardless of what specific tasks they are performing.
“We live in a culture that doesn’t seem to value the true gifts that women bring to our culture – motherhood, gentleness, patience, intuition, sensitivity, attention, warmth and the list goes on. These qualities are now seen in a negative light, seen as weaknesses, when in fact, it’s our strength,” she said.
“For consecrated religious, these elements of true femininity should be even more deeply rooted in us simply because of who we are. People see us and right away they associate us with God, the Church and rightly so. What a blessing and privilege it is to be a daughter of the Church.”
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Having addressed this specific report earlier at, “Pope Francis: Partisans have used Benedict XVI’s death ‘to serve their own interests’”, this comment addresses Pope Francis’ 2013 in flight comment repeated by him here that, “If a person with homosexual tendencies is a believer, seeks God, who am I to judge him? This is what I said on that trip”.
Accompaniment by priest, or God of the struggling homosexual is a good thing. Conditionally. That is if the priest emulates God, revealed to us in Christ drawing the penitent away from actions that Francis admits are gravely sinful and under no circumstances permissible.
It’s clear then that same sex attraction, homosexual tendencies are not [always] sinful. Nonetheless, it’s also true that homosexual tendency and acts can be voluntary, a willful perversion. That is why the Church must resist this administration’s intent to cultivate in our youth a homosexual oriented mentality. Bad sexual behavior can be learned and adopted especially by the young and vulnerable, addressed here by Susan Ciancio “The sexualization of children”. We’re not hearing much if anything from the Vatican on this far reaching moral dilemma. That said, the statement “Who am I to judge” has a context to which we have to make a prudent judgment.
Assignments to the Casa Marta, Synod on Synodality, Vatican communications of an active homosexual, advocates for normalizing homosexuality. Both the Synod on Synodality with Card Hollerich SJ relator, the Pontifical Academy for Life Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia president are assigned homosexual advocates [John Finnis recently assigned, member Card Willem Eijk both doctrinally orthodox to the Pontifical Academy may be simply window dressing when the entire direction of the Church is considered]. Add the Card Coccopalmerio Vatican residence homosexual scandal, Francis’ reinstatement of defrocked child rapist Fr Inzoli speak a different story to the Pope’s explanation of Who am I to judge.
Some of us want to love this pope are taken by his compassionate overtures. The visible moral sea change transforming the Church into an accommodation of the gravely sinful, of perverse behavior makes that a split of sorrowful compassion salted by strong rejection.
Never emphasizes the justice part of that same coin and only drudgingly and barely reiterates the Catechism.
How many active homosexuals have you brought back to Christ, Pope Francis?
God’s accompaniment is never for the legalization of anyone’s sins. Calling on God’s Holy Name for such things breaks all the Commandments starting with the 2nd; but as Pope, the 1st!
You can not uphold anyone’s dignity by “legalizing homosexual civil union”. It is the opposite, by doing such a thing you degrade and demean everyone altogether and offend God gravely.
“The pope reiterated what he said on his return flight from Brazil in 2013: “If a person with homosexual tendencies is a believer, seeks God, who am I to judge him? This is what I said on that trip.”
“EWTN is SATAN!” my priest screamed in his homily. My Priest was really going off on how EWTN was ‘Satan’, for their comments on Pope Francis’, “Who Am I To Judge”. So I started a page, with a poll, to discuss just who Pope Francis, can’t or can, judge. I invited my Priest to the page to help us discuss.
Priest Judges EWTN as Satan for Their Comments on Pope Francis’ “Who Am I To Judge”
https://www.religiousforums.com/threads/catholics-only-priest-judges-ewtn-as-satan-for-their-co mments-on-pope-francis%E2%80%99-%E2%80%9Cwho-am-i-to-judge%E2%80%9D.250177/
I do not hear the enormous, horrible, Catholic issue of child molester priests being discussed in Pope Francis’ “Synod on Synodality”. Is Pope Francis and his Vatican Gay Lobby trying to slide in the decriminalization of man-boy-lover Priests molesting children, when he says ‘Who am I to Judge’? Yes, respect the human dignity of man-boy-lovers, but please Pope Francis make sure the world knows child molesting is a grave sin and heinous crime!
P.S. We have a new Awesome Priest now.
Well, the theological arguments are needed to understand the elements that make for the gravity of the dilemma. Although, the cat is now out of the gunnysack [an ordinary bag is too small for this cat]. What with His Holiness allegedly telling Spanish clergy no need to hold back absolution if the penitent refuses to repent, otherwise openly broadcasting that no one should be denied the Eucharist, that the only requisite is the garment of faith. Will Martin Luther be next up for canonization?
Would it be better for Papa to interpret scripture rather that presenting his own point of view? If we care for the eternal soul of one who is misguided, we are obliged to speak the truth in love. We all have our besetting sins, yet God finds the sin of homosexuality egregious.
Romans 1:26-27 For this reason God gave them up to dishonourable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Unfounded response to ungodly behaviour helps no one.
We read: “The pope reiterated what he said on his return flight from Brazil in 2013: “If a person with homosexual tendencies is a believer, seeks God, who am I to judge him? This is what I said on that trip.”
Indeed, the pope simply repeats the original ambiguity–the off-the-cuff remark about a particular “him,” conflated with silence on universal moral truth; the failure to distinguish between accompaniment and accommodation.
Nine years of non-dialogue. With no apologies for another repetition, this again from Veritatis Splendor:
“A separation, or even an opposition [!], is thus established in some cases between the teaching of the precept, which is valid and general, and the norm of the individual conscience, which would in fact make the final decision [no longer a ‘moral judgment’!] about what is good and what is evil. On this basis, an attempt is made to legitimize so-called ‘pastoral’ solutions [!] contrary to the teaching of the Magisterium, and to justify a ‘creative’ hermeneutic according to which the moral conscience is in no way obliged, in every case, by a particular negative precept [thou shalt not!]” (Veritatis Splendor, n. 56).
Who in the media is asking the Pope questions about the many Christians being persecuted and killed in Nigeria? Why does every press engagement devolve to the same topic?
I hate the way the press constantly distorts the Holy Father’s views. If they would ask him the right questions on the right topics his brilliance, orthodoxy and sanctity would shine forth. He has, for example, been very clear in condemning Islamic violence against Christians in Nigeria when given the opportunity. Or he has at least condemned some kind of violence against someone or something. Anyway, it’s all the media’s fault!
First, this pontificate is almost a decade in. If you are correct (and I don’t think you are), one would have to question the Pope’s/Vatican’s choice of media outlets. But, really, isn’t ten years enough time to find a way to consistently express matters with clarity and cohesion?
Secondly, a truly brilliant man would be able to take even distorted or leading questions and respond (again) with clarity and cohesion. So…there’s that.
Very painful load of sarcasm from Tony. Might be a Babylon Bee journalist.
If so, he got me! Heh.
This comment is intended to be sarcastic, right? Brilliance, orthodoxy, and sanctity are not qualities people associate with Francis, not even on his best days, which are sadly quite rare.
Perhaps I should give up sarcasm for Lent. No, my comment was not intended to be taken literally. Like someone else I can think of, I have been guilty of spreading confusion.
Pope Francis’in-flight pressers are not helpful, let’s say. Why does he keep playing the secular media’s games?
Like the word “inclusion,” the term “accompanies” should be dropped from the vocabulary of those who take their relationship with Christ seriously. God does not accompany us anywhere. He convicts us of sin and calls us to repent and believe. It’s that simple, and it’s perfectly clear. “Accompanying” people is leftist code for accommodating sin, a response that clearly violates biblical teaching and the catechism.
There’s nothing wrong, per se, with the word “accompanies”. The problem (or part of the problem) is that it is a such neutral word. Far, far better are the exact, clear words found in the first paragraph of the CCC:
Created…draws close….calls…sent his Son….invites. These are words that demand our response, just as Christ’s words—”Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand”—demand a response. But the language of faux synodality is banal, neutral, and far too conversational. It certainly isn’t biblical.
Good points, and a neutral word can be bent in all kinds of directions to suit people’s agendas. I’m thankful that God speaks clearly and directly to us. He doesn’t mince words, but He always tells us the truth.
God is all powerful. Accompanies the weak and the strong on their brief common journey forward.