Published: July 1, 2009 The New York Times By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
James Estrin/The New York Times: Mother Mary Clare Millea has been appointed by the Vatican to study the activities of some orders of nuns in the United States.
The Vatican is quietly conducting two sweeping investigations of American nuns, a development that has startled and dismayed nuns who fear they are the targets of a doctrinal inquisition.
Nuns were the often-unsung workers who helped build the Roman Catholic Church in this country, planting schools and hospitals and keeping parishes humming. But for the last three decades, their numbers have been declining — to 60,000 today from 180,000 in 1965.
While some nuns say they are grateful that the Vatican is finally paying attention to their dwindling communities, many fear that the real motivation is to reel in American nuns who have reinterpreted their calling for the modern world. Read the rest of this entry »
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