Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Sister Sharon Holland, president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, receives applause at Vatican press conference for release of final report of Vatican-ordered investigation of U.S. communities of women religious.

U.S. women religious welcomed the conciliatory tone of a Vatican report on religious life and expressed appreciation for its acknowledgement of the important ministry that they practice in the life of the church. They also said the report, released on Dec. 16, opens a new beginning for women religious, as the apostolic visitation process that ran from 2009 to 2012 concluded. “The positive tone and the clear affirmation found in the document give us new energy to move on in our critical role,” said Sister Mary Johnson, a member of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and a professor of sociology and religious studies at Trinity Washington University. Sister Nancy Conway, president of the Congregation of St. Joseph, called it a “welcome ending” to the visitation. “I perceive this as a great shift in tone, for which I am very grateful.”

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
Anne Danielson
10 years 4 months ago
"Man does not live on bread alone but every Word that comes forth from The Mouth of God." - The Word of God Made Flesh To deny this truth, is to deny Christ.

The latest from america

Paola Ugaz, a Peruvian journalist who helped expose the abuse committed by leaders of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, gives Pope Leo XIV a stole made of alpaca wool, during the pope's meeting with members of the media May 12, 2025, in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
Pope Leo offered a heartening message for a global media that has endured a pretty awful year.
Kevin ClarkeMay 23, 2025
If you think our enthusiasm for our basketball team was intense, just wait until you see our support for Pope Leo XIV.
Jack DoolinMay 23, 2025
“I don’t think he’s the kind of man who sends coded messages,” Cardinal Michael Czerny says in this exclusive interview with Gerard O’Connell.
Gerard O’ConnellMay 23, 2025
First-grade students finish an assignment at St. Ambrose Catholic School in Tucson, Ariz., in this 2014 photo. Arizona has one of the nation’s strongest school choice programs, with vouchers available to every child in the state. (CNS file photo/Nancy Wiechec)
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a ruling denying state funds to a Catholic charter school in Oklahoma. What should American Catholics be asking about public funding for school choice?
Beth BlaufussMay 23, 2025