The speakers in the conference were
Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, prefect of the Congregation for the
Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life;
Archbishop Jose Rodriguez Carballo, O.F.M., secretary of the same
congregation; Mother M. Clare Millea, A.S.C.J., director of the
Apostolic Visitation in the United States; Sister. Sharon Holland,
I.H.M., president of the “Leadership Conference of Women Religious”
(LCWR); Sr. Agnes Mary Donovan, S.V., coordinator of the “Council
of Major Superiors of Women Religious” (CMSWR), and Fr. Thomas
Rosica, C.S.B., assistant to the Visitation Committee.
Cardinal Braz de Aviz explained that
the Visitation was initiated “because of our awareness that
apostolic religious life in the United States is experiencing
challenging times. Although we knew that any initiative of this
magnitude would have its limits,we wished to gain deeper knowledge of
the contributions of the women religious to the Church and society as
well as those difficulties which threaten the quality of their
religious life and, in some cases, the very existence of the
institutes.
“Our final report on the Apostolic
Visitation is addressed to the women religious of the United States
as well as to the Church’s Pastors and faithful. In addition to
publishing this general report, our Dicastery will send individual
reports to those institutes which hosted an on-site visitation and to
those institutes whose individual reports indicated areas of concern.
We will also send letters of thanks to those institutes which
participated in the first two phases of the Visitation. … We are
aware that the Apostolic Visitation was met with apprehension by some
women religious as well as the decision, on the part of some
institutes, not to collaborate fully in the process. While this was a
painful disappointment for us, we use this present opportunity to
express our willingness to engage in respectful and fruitful dialogue
with those institutes which were not fully compliant with the
Visitation process”.
The cardinal went on to remark that
Pope Francis had asked the dicastery, in close collaboration with the
Congregation for Bishops, to update the curial document Mutuae
Relationes regarding the collaboration among bishops and religious,
“in accord with the Church’s resolve to foster the ecclesial
communion which we all desire”. He concluded by expressing his joy
at Pope Francis' many recent statements about “the indispensable
and unique contributions of women to society and the Church. I assure
you that this Congregation is committed to collaborate in the
realisation of Pope Francis’ resolve that 'the feminine genius'
find expression in the various settings where important decisions are
made, both in the Church and in social structures. We will continue
to work to see that competent women religious will be actively
involved in ecclesial dialogue regarding “the possible role of
women in decision-making in different areas of the Church’s life”.
Archbishop Jose Rodriguez Carballo,
O.F.M, secretary of the Congregation, then went on to present an
overview of the final report. He explained that the dicasteries of
the Apostolic See regularly authorise Apostolic Visitations, which
involve sending one or more visitors to evaluate an ecclesiastical
entity in order to assist the group in question to improve the way in
which it carries out its mission in the life of the Church. “In
some ways, however, this Apostolic Visitation was unprecedented. It
involved 341 religious institutes of women religious which engage in
apostolic ministry and which have a generalate, provincialate and/or
initial formation program in the United States. Both diocesan and
pontifical right institutes, to which approximately 50,000 women
religious throughout the United States belong, were part of the
Visitation. Each province of institutes which had more than one
province in the United States was considered a separate unit, for a
total of 405 entities involved in the Visitation. Our dicastery
appointed a woman religious from the United States, Mother Mary Clare
Millea, A.S.C.J., as Apostolic Visitator, granting her the faculties
to design and carry out the Visitation. She, in turn, chose a core
team of American religious who assisted her throughout the process”.
“The Visitation took place between
2009 and 2012 and was divided into four phases. In the first phase,
266 superiors general (78% of their total number) voluntarily engaged
in personal dialogue with the Visitator. Subsequently, all major
superiors were asked to complete a questionnaire requesting empirical
data and qualitative information regarding the spiritual, community
and ministerial life of the individual institutes. On-site visits
were then conducted in a representative sample of 90 religious
institutes, representing about half of the apostolic women religious
in the United States. In the final phase of the Visitation, the
Visitator submitted to our dicastery a final general report on the
major issues and trends in women’s religious life in the United
States. While these trends cannot be presumed to apply to each of the
institutes, they were significant enough to warrant mention in her
report”.
“The document we are presenting today
is our Congregation’s response to the Vistitator’s general
report. Following a brief introduction, it describes the rationale
and offers an overview of the Visitation process. It then briefly
treats the principal issues evaluated during the Visitation process:
empirical data, charism and identity, vocations and religious
formation, Christ-centred prayer, community life and ministry,
governance and financial stewardship, collaboration in the
evangelising mission of the Church and ecclesial communion. On each
of these topics, a point of reference is given in the form of a brief
statement of current Church teaching on the issue being reviewed.
This is followed by a summary of the Visitator’s overall evaluation
of the reality. The third part of each section contains the
Congregation’s recommendations to all religious institutes
regarding that issue”.
Archbishop Rodriguez Carballo added
that “any oral summary of the Apostolic Visitation during this
press conference would risk impoverishing its content. The full text
of the Report will be made available for consultation at:
www.vatican.va, www.uisg.org, www.vidimusdominum.org, www.lcwr.org,
www.cmswr.org, and www.usccb.org) and will be sent to all the
participating religious institutes.
The Visitator, Sr. M. Clare Millea,
A.S.C.J., remarked that the Visit had provided many opportunities for
“reflection, dialogue and communion among women religious in the
United States as well as with the Church's pastors and lay faithful.
Congregation leaders, including those who at first expressed
resistance to this initiative, have shared that the process has
yielded surprising positive results, such as honest confrontation
with the transformative power of the Word of God, deep spiritual
conversations with our sisters about the life, witness and message of
our foundresses and founders, earnest delving into Church documents
about consecrated life, increased solidarity among women religious
and renewed desire to move beyond attitudes which prevent us from
being in communion with one another, a wonderful outpouring of loving
gratitude expressed to women religious by bishops, clergy and
laypersons, which has sparked new energy and resourcefulness among us
and awakened a renewed interest in the promotion of vocations to the
religious life”.
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