Here's what the Catholic nuns have to say about our government during this Holy Week

[hatredisnotavalue]

The sisters at my daughter's Catholic college sent this out today:

Holy Week
The 5th. Station
Simon Helps Jesus carry His Cross

"As they led him away they took hold of a certain Simon, Cyrenian, who was coming from the country; after laying the cross on him, they made him carry it behind Jesus."


Message:
Simon: he's good, he's a simple country man, and he encounters something big, too big for him, and he is "pressed into service," made to participate in this thing he wasn't involved in. But he has to go along with it, because otherwise, they might kill him. There is a certain complacency here, a silent agreeing although many questions remain- this leads ultimately to the killing of an innocent man who is also the Son of God!
And how we go along!
We decide not to be involved in politics, to focus on our own daily lives instead. But this is impossible- to not be involved is impossible- because when we say nothing, we are really saying "yes."
Every day, new crosses are constructed for the people of the little countries, like Ecuador, by the foreign policy decisions made by our trusted leaders. Unchecked, so much can go wrong, and all of a sudden we realize that we've helped by our inattention and silence, to carry the cross to Golgotha and there will be a crucifixion soon.
we turn our eyes away from human rights violations, the starvation of billions, death from preventable diseases and
non-access to potable water.
We are Simons all the time, carrying crosses instead of asking questions, and it always leads to death.

WOW!

[acmavm]

1. Oh dear. I expect them to be severely reprimanded.

But what a GREAT letter.

[pnwmom]

6. Why? That's typical Catholic theology.

[acmavm]

12. Because its coming from women. And it is criticizing the behavior of

powerful men.

[Clark2008]

14. Nuns have always challenged the behavior of powerful men.

Any Catholic knows who really runs the Church and it "ain't" the priest.

[acmavm]

17. I'm Catholic. And I damn well know from experience dealing

with the Church and the Archdiocese a few years back (in regard to a nut case priest who eventually barricaded himself in the church with a gun and the swat team had to get him out) who runs things and who doesn't. Now that wasn't the incident that caused all the trouble, in fact, that incident pretty well ended it. But by then all the parishoners were gone, the school had no students, and it pretty well ended St. Peter's as being a useful, meaningful parish.

Nuns have always been at the front of humanitarian movements. But they don't 'run' anything and unless they are so famous and popular that there is littel the Church can do to them (like Mother Theresa), don't fool yourself, they have no independence OR authority.

[Divernan]

20. Agreed - how many nuns got to vote for Pope? Zero

Saying nuns "run the Church", is out of touch with the political realities of the ordained male heirarchy. The power grabbing & infighting from the level of Bishop on up is clearly reflected in the character/history of the most recently elected Pope. There is NO power sharing with women within the Catholic Church.

[rosesaylavee]

21. It depends on the denomination.

Went to a college run by the BVMs (Blessed Virgin Mary) in the early 80s. They ran the college. There were even more than a few that were advocating sending a formal statement to the new pope in response to his declaration that 'women had no place near the altar' during the Mass. They were very pissed. This was also a college where I discovered the work of Mary Daly, a very radical ex-Catholic who advocated discontinuing all association with men - including priests.

I considered myself very lucky to be in the presence of these very intellectual and thought-provoking educators.

[NYC]

2. ...when we say nothing, we are really saying "yes."

Excellent. Good nuns, good school.

[Breeze54]

8. That's a fact!

"When we say nothing, we are really saying yes!"

:kick: & Recommended!

[leftchick]

19. Qui tacet consentire videtur

"he that is silent is thought to consent"

[stellanoir]

3. some sistas are amazingly cool and also very wise

Thanks for sharing.

[TahitiNut]

4. What order of nuns are they?

I hope Pope Bennie doesn't get wind of their secular heresy.

[malaise]

5. Liberation theology

nuns

[ret5hd]

9. Liberation theology is a philosophy, not an order of nuns.

[malaise]

15. LOL

That was funny. It deserved a Duh!

[TahitiNut]

10. A school of theological philosophy, it'd be sure to piss off Pope Bennie.

He's been even more opposed to that thinking than Pope JP-II. It's too bad Cardinal Trujillo, while too old, wasn't elected in Bennie's place.

(Are they Maryknoll nuns?)

[dflprincess]

7. I would only object to the good sisters using the term

"trusted leaders".

I think nuns tend to be more much more liberal than priests. Of course, they can't go any further up the Church's food chain so they don't have to worry about impressing their local bishop or the pope.

[Pacifist Patriot]

16. All of my favorite nuns are extroardinarily skilled with the use of sarcasm.

That's how I read that phrase.

[pnorman]

11. I'm not a card-carrying Christian,

but I was moved by that and I bookmarked it.

pnorman

[mmonk]

13. That's exactly how I feel about it.

Carrying the cross while saying or doing nothing is the sin of these last few years.

[JNelson6563]

18. The nuns who taught me were also enlightened souls

Kind and thoughtful. Often reminded us of the suffering elsewhere in the world and taught us it was our duty to care and do something about it.

Julie

[LostinVA]

22. Thanks for posting this here!

[Beer Snob-50]

23. Great Post

However, instead of using this as a springboard for bashing the church for their male dominated hieracrcy (sp), let's use this to remember this is what the Catholic Church in the late 20th and 21st Century has tried to stand for. Except for a few nut cases (mainly the RW faction of the Church and those who have been in the news the last couple of years), this is the Church that I love.