Call on Irish Catholics to support their US sisters

On behalf of We Are Church Ireland, I wish to express our solidarity with the Leadership Conference of 900 Women Religious, representing 320 religious communities in the US.

Their annual gathering aims to discern how they will respond to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s accusations that ‘this Conference is undermining Catholic teaching on homosexuality and birth control’, promoting ‘radical feminist themes that are incompatible with the Christian faith’, for its involvement in social justice issues and finally for making public statements that ‘disagree with and challenge the bishops’.

Already these committed women, very many of them from Irish backgrounds, have received significant support among US Catholics who appreciate the Gospel-inspired work that they undertake among the marginalised. Facing canonical threats from the Vatican, the Conference must tread carefully without sacrificing its commitment to the demands of the Gospel.