Catholic Transcript Online

Mother Mary Clare Millea

HARTFORD – Although leaders representing women religious are questioning what they say is a lack of full disclosure about what is motivating the Vatican’s apostolic visitation that will study the contemporary practices of U.S. women’s religious orders, the spokesperson for the visitation says it is showing "great transparency."

In an Aug. 17 press statement, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) also said the leaders objected to a lack of full disclosure about funding sources for the study and "the fact that their orders will not be permitted to see the investigative reports about them" when they are submitted in 2011 to the Vatican’s Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life and its prefect, Cardinal Rodé."

Sister Eva-Maria Ackerman, spokesperson for the apostolic visitation, said on Aug. 19 that the funding source is a non-issue, and that Mother Clare’s final report will be confidential in order "to protect the integrity of the process for all involved."

She said on Aug. 31 that no one from the LCWR had contacted the apostolic visitation office in Hamden to voice the objections it raised during its annual assembly from Aug. 11-14 in New Orleans.

The apostolic visitation office uses direct mail, a Web site (http://apostolicvisitation.org) and a prayer group on the social network Facebook to provide information about its purpose and methods. The Web site and Facebook page currently carry letters from Mother Mary Clare Millea, superior general of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the apostolic visitator charged by the Vatican with directing the study. The Web site also carries video messages from Mother Clare.

"[S]he’s really putting a lot of things up there. I think that’s great transparency," said Sister Eva-Maria, a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George.

A working document – known as an instrumentum laboris – outlining the areas the visitation will cover was sent to 341 leaders of congregations in July to share with their members. Sisters were asked to reflect on the working document, which serves as a prelude to a separate questionnaire that was to be sent Sept. 1, marking the start of the study’s second phase.

The apostolic visitation office will analyze the questionnaires when they are returned and then determine which congregations to visit.

Although Mother Clare sent a letter to the heads of U.S.-based congregations and to those who head international orders with sisters here, asking them to share the instrumentum laboris with their members, the working document also is posted in its entirety on the Web site.

Also on the apostolic visitation’s Web site is a Frequently Asked Questions page that spells out its objectives and explains what prompted the visitation.

"It is intended to comprehensively assess and encourage the growth of Catholic Institutes of women religious in the United States who engage in apostolic works," it says.

As to what prompted it, this answer appears: "The Congregation for Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life exercises oversight in relation to all religious institutes throughout the world. Like other vocations in the Church, religious life has passed through challenging times. The Congregation for Consecrated Life is aware that many new congregations have emerged in the United States while many others have decreased in membership or have an increased median age. Apostolic works have also changed significantly because of societal changes. These and other areas need to be better understood and assessed in order to safeguard and promote consecrated life in the United States."

Asked if a lack of disclosure of the funding source is an issue, as the LCWR claims, Sister Eva-Maria said, "No."

She said that because the Congregation for Consecrated Life initiated the visitation, the Vatican congregation will pay for it.

The Web site also contains contact information for the apostolic visitation office. Since the site’s debut and in an interview on Feb. 12 with The Transcript, Mother Clare, a native of Derby who graduated from Sacred Heart Academy in Hamden, has made it clear that individual sisters are being invited to contact the visitation office.

"We want people to feel free to communicate with us," Mother Clare told The Transcript in February.

That was also the reason, she said, that the report that ultimately results from the apostolic visitation will be confidential as it was outlined in its mandate.

During its annual assembly, the LCWR, representing 59,000 women religious, also discussed a separate inquiry being conducted by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the position of LCWR in matters pertaining to Catholic Church doctrine.

Sister J. Lora Dambroski of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Providence of God, outgoing president, called for unity while stressing the potential inherent in the Vatican studies, according to a press release issued Aug. 17 by the LCWR.

In her address, Sister Lora described the inquiries as a "unique invitation to ongoing creativity in the living of Gospel commitment" and said they provide "another defining moment in our conference and our collective histories and future."

Catholic News Service also contributed to this article.

1. Identity of your religious institute

A. What is the understanding of religious life in your institute in light of its charism within the Church?

B. What understanding of religious life is taught to prospective and current members of your institute?

C. How are ecclesial documents integrated into your theological understanding of religious life?

D. What are your concerns about the future of your religious institute in living its charism in the Church?

E. How do sisters in your institute understand and express the vow and virtue of poverty? To whom are they accountable for the observance of the vow?

F. How do they understand and observe the vow and virtue of chastity? How is their consecration positively expressed?

G. How do they understand and express the vow and virtue of obedience? To whom are the sisters accountable for the observance of the vow?

H. Do the sisters take other/additional vows? If so, how do they live this/these out?

I. Has your institute been involved in, is it now involved in or are you now planning a configuration, federation, merger or union with another congregation or other congregations? If so, how has this integration affected the quality of the life of the institute and of the sisters themselves?

J. Is your institute moving toward a new form of religious life? If so, how is this new form specifically related to the Church’s understanding of religious life?

2. The governance of your religious institute

A. Is the form of government in your institute in accord with requirements of the Church regarding superiors, chapters, elections, religious houses, etc.?

B. How is the form of government as stated in your Constitutions effectively operative in your institute?

C. To what extent is this form of governance evident in the daily, ongoing life of sisters in your institute?

D. In what way are non-members, including "associates," involved in the governance of the institute?

E. What is the process of consultation employed for gathering input and opinions from sisters prior to decision making on significant matters?

F. Do superiors treat all sisters with fairness and genuine concern and deal compassionately with those who experience difficulties or hold divergent opinions?

G. What is the process for responding to sisters who dissent publicly or privately from the authoritative teaching of the Church?

H. What is the process for responding to sisters who disagree publicly or privately with congregational decisions, especially regarding matters of Church authority?

3. Vocation promotion, admission and formation policies

A. Are specific policies, procedures and criteria for admission to the institute clearly specified and followed?

B. Does your formation program offer your members the foundations of Catholic faith and doctrine through the study of Vatican II documents, the Catechism of the Catholic Church and post-Conciliar documents?

C. How do your initial and on-going formation programs integrate the most recent documents of the Church concerning religious life?

D. Do you find your ongoing formation programs adequate and helpful for living your charism effectively in the Church today?

E. Are there reasons to be concerned about vocations or formation in your institute?

4. Spiritual life and common life

A. How do you express the reality that the Eucharist is the source of the spiritual, communal and ministerial life of the individual sisters and your institute as a whole?

B. How does your institute express its commitment to strengthening common life through the common celebration of the Eucharist, common prayer, and the sharing of gifts and resources in common?

C. Are daily Mass and frequent reception of the Sacrament of Penance a priority for your sisters?

D. Do the sisters of your institute participate in the Eucharistic Liturgy according to approved liturgical norms?

E. Do the sisters pray the Liturgy of the Hours according to your Constitutions using books approved by the Church?

F. Do sisters of your institute study and put into practice the approved religious and spiritual exercises which are indicative of your specific charism in the Church?

G. How does the manner of dress of your sisters, as specified in the proper law of your religious institute, bear witness to the dignity and simplicity of your vocation?

H. What are the current provisions for care of aging and ill sis-ters and what is your institute’s future plan for their care?

5. Mission and ministry

A. What is the specific apostolic purpose of your institute as stated in your Constitutions?

B. Do you see the present apostolic endeavors of your religious institute as viable and effective expressions of your charism and mission?

C. Which current apostolic projects best represent the focus and purpose of your charism?

D. What means are being taken to ensure that the charism of the congregation will continue in the case of diminishing presence of your sisters in congregation owned or sponsored institutions?

E. What are your institute’s expectations for ministry in the future?

6. Financial administration

A. What is your institute’s approach to stewardship of resources and financial administration?

B. How are individual sisters, including those in positions of authority, accountable for good stewardship of resources?

C. What are your financial concerns for your institute?

D. Has the institute transferred ownership or control of any property in the past ten years? Does it anticipate any further transfer of ownership or control of ecclesiastical goods? If so, has it been done according to Church norms? Have the members in the institute been a part of the process?