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June 3, 2015

Church needs more open dialogue, LCWR leader tells Toronto crowd

Sr. Carol Zinn, a Philadelphia-based Sister of St. Joseph, speaks to Canadian sisters and religious order priests and brothers in Toronto June 3. Zinn was one of the group of women religious who met with Pope Francis for 50 minutes May 15 to discuss the future of religious life and U.S. women religious.

TORONTO - Having survived five years of investigation, interrogation and suspicion as past president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious in the United States, Sr. Carol Zinn of the Sisters of St. Joseph is calling for more open, honest and heartfelt dialogue across the divides within the Church.

Published in Canada
April 16, 2015

Vatican, LCWR announce successful conclusion of process to reform group

Pope Francis meets with representatives of the U.S. Leadership Conference of Women Religious in his library in the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican April 16. The same day the Vatican announced the conclusion of a seven-year process of investigation and di alogue with the group to ensure fidelity to church teachings. The outcome resulted in revised statues approved by the Vatican.

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican approved new statutes and bylaws for the U.S. Leadership Conference of Women Religious, ending a seven-year process of investigating the group and engaging in dialogue with its officers to ensure greater harmony with church teaching.

Published in Vatican
December 17, 2014

Vatican seeks to bury the hatchet with American nuns

Sister Sharon Holland, president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, second from left, receives applause after speaking at a Dec. 16 Vatican press conference for release of the final report of a Vatican-ordered investigation of U.S. communit ies of women religious. From left are: Brazilian Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life; Sister Holland; Sister Agnes Mary Donovan, coordinator of the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious; and Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman. The 5,000 word report summarizes problems and challenges the women see in their communities and thanks them for their service. The visitation was carried out between 2009 and 2012.

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican ended a six-year inquiry into U.S. nuns with a report designed to bury their differences and celebrate their contribution to the Catholic Church.

Published in Vatican
May 5, 2014

Vatican’s doctrine chief blasts U.S. nuns for disobedience

Sr. Carol Zinn addresses the Leadership Conference of Women Religious during its annual assembly in Orlando, Fla., last August Zinn was one of four LCWR leaders who recently met with Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Catholic nuns in the United States have been thumbing their nose at Rome’s demands to toe the doctrinal line and they need to obey or face serious consequences, the Vatican’s enforcer of orthodoxy said in a surprisingly tough talk to women representing most American sisters.

Published in Vatican
May 7, 2013

Vatican says its congregations collaborate, including on LCWR decision

Franciscan Sister Florence Deacon (center), president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, is joined by Sister Carol Zinn (left), a Sister of St. Joseph, and past president Franciscan Sister Pat Farre ll in a file photo marked Aug 10, 2012. A statement issued by the Vatican May 7 said the doctrinal congregation and the congregation for religious "have for some time been collaborating on a renewed theological vision of religious life in the church."

VATICAN CITY - Two days after the head of the Vatican office overseeing religious life said he had not been consulted by the Vatican's doctrinal office about a controversial investigation of American nuns, the two bodies affirmed their "common commitment" to reform of the U.S.-based Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

Published in International