Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
I was raised Catholic, attended Catholic school, and I have several aunts and cousins who are or were (deceased) nuns. So I can say, tongue-in-cheek, don't mess with the penguins!
The heart and soul of the Catholic faith are its sisters. They are the teachers, the nurses, the caregivers, the missionaries who carry out the "social justice" commandment of Jesus. Matthew 25:
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
It is the male hierarchy of the Church that has lost its way with scandal after scandal of priests sexually abusing children, and the Vatican covering up their crimes for decades. It is the male hierarchy of the Church that has a myopic fixation on dictating to women their reproductive health from contraception to abortion -- Jesus never had anything to say about that. The male hierarchy of the Church barely even mentions its "social justice" mission of the Church any longer. How dare the male hierarchy of the Church attempt to silence the sisters of the Church and force them to submit to their domination. Nuns 'stunned' as Vatican tells them to focus on 'human sexuality':
A prominent US Catholic nuns’ group said ... it was “stunned” that the Vatican reprimanded it for spending too much time on poverty and social justice concerns and not enough on abortion and gay marriage.
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It also reprimanded American nuns for expressing positions on political issues that differed, at times, from views held by American bishops. Public disagreement with the bishops — “who are the church’s authentic teachers of faith and morals” – is unacceptable, the report said.
When the Vatican cleans up its act and sends paedophile priests to prison for their crimes instead of covering up their horrific crimes and protecting them from prosecution, then they can have a say. Until then, no one is listening to what the bishops have to say, they have lost all credibility and any moral authority to speak for the Church (regardless of what Church doctrine written by males for males may say).
It is the sisters of the Church who have the moral authority to speak for the Church, and they are speaking out for the "social justice" mission of the Church commanded by Jesus. The sisters have organized a bus tour called “Nuns on the Bus: Nuns Drive for Faith, Family and Fairness.”
Washington: NETWORK today announced a multi-state bus trip by Catholic Sisters highlighting the work Sisters do to meet the needs of people at the economic margins and revealing how federal budget cuts proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and passed by the House of Representatives will hurt struggling families in these states.
The tour is called, “Nuns on the Bus: Nuns Drive for Faith, Family and Fairness.”
The Sisters will board the bus in Ames, Iowa on June 18 and make stops in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, where the trip will end on July 2. Along the way, they will visit Catholic-sponsored social service agencies that serve people who will be further harmed by proposed budget cuts, and they will meet with congressional offices to advocate for a fair budget. Local Church and political officials and the media are invited to meet with the Sisters during their daily stops.
The Vatican recently criticized Catholic Sisters in the U.S. for spending too much time working for social justice instead of speaking out on issues such as gay marriage and abortion. Despite the controversy, Catholic Sisters stand with the Bishops in criticizing the Ryan budget and are committed to staying faithful to their mission to serve those in need. Because of their work, Sisters see the suffering of people in poverty on a daily basis. As a result, they recognize the harm that the Ryan budget will cause, including:
- Undermining the food stamp program (SNAP) at a time when millions need it to feed their families
- Beginning to shift Medicare to a voucher program, thus driving more seniors into poverty
- Giving large tax breaks to the wealthy at the expense of protections for struggling families
- Drastically cutting funding for health insurance programs for low-income people, causing millions to lose access to healthcare
- Increasing Pentagon spending while cutting programs that serve people in need -- despite the Pentagon saying there are military programs that should be cut.
The bus tour is meant to focus attention on the enormous moral choices facing our country. Do we choose to be a nation of individualism and fear where the rich get richer at the expense of those in need? Or do we reclaim the principles of our founders and work together for all the people to form a more perfect union?
You can support the sisters in their Nuns on The Bus Tour by making a contribution at the NETWORK web site, www.networklobby.org.
"Hey sister, go sister, soul sister, go sister..."
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