Quote du Jour (Religion Department)

I was first alerted to this piece, "What the Nuns' Story is Really About" by my dear friend, Deacon Jim Knipper. I've reread Fr. Doug Koesel's piece a half dozen times and may have to print multiple copies to post on my refrigerator door, bathroom mirror, and cork board above my desk. Here's an excerpt from the kicker paragraphs. Veni Sancte Spiritus!


Nuns have always tried to work within the system. This time their prophetic voices may take them out of the system. They may take a lot of Catholics and a lot of their hospitals, schools, colleges, orphanages, prison ministries, convents, women’s shelters, food pantries and, of course, the good will they have earned over the centuries with them.

This investigation is not about wayward US nuns. It is the last gasp for control by a dying breed, wrapped in its own self-importance. It is a struggle for the very nature of the church; who we are, how we pray, where we live, who belongs, why we believe. The early church endured a similar struggle. The old order died. The Holy Spirit won.

─  Doug Koesel