U.S.
Ryan Schuessler
ST. LOUIS — With all eyes on the Roman Catholic Church as Pope Francis’ first trip to the United States as pontiff nears, a group of 12 activist nuns launched a two-week tour through seven states from St. Louis on Thursday, aimed at fostering dialogue about poverty and economic inequality in the United States.
“Pope Francis is coming to the U.S. to tell us to get our act together,” Simone Campbell, 69, the nun behind the bus tours, told a cheering crowd of about 100 in the shadow of the Gateway Arch, joined by a delegation of local activists and clergy. “And we’re on the road in advance of that.”
In contrast with the previous five tours, the Nuns on the Bus are launching their trip at with the Vatican easing up on its crackdown on American nuns. In April the Vatican closed its investigation into the Leadership Conference of Women Religious — an organization that represents about 80 percent of the 57,000 Roman Catholic sisters in the United States — which Pope Benedict charged with “promoting radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith.”
Founded during that time of condemnation, the Nuns on the Bus tours aim to bring awareness to poverty in the United States as well as to advocate for immigration reform and voter registration in low-income communities.
But things are different now, and it’s the Roman Catholic Church under Pope Francis that is changing, analysts say, not the nuns’ message.
“The nuns kept doing what the church asked us to do,” said Eucharia Madueke, who joined the Nuns on the Bus project a year ago. “The issue is how [those in church leadership] interpret it.”
“What we have is a pontiff that’s no longer criticizing us but is affirming what our mission has been all along,” Campbell said. “To lift up the struggles of people who are left out. And so while we’ve been faithful to our mission, the hierarchy has changed a little bit and joined us on the bus.”
In 2012, Benedict’s Vatican launched the investigation into the women religious, prompting a national conversation about the role of women in the Roman Catholic Church. That’s when Campbell, the executive director of Network, a Catholic social justice lobbying group, started the Nuns on the Bus, riding the wave of public support pouring in for the sisters.
“I think the issue there was primarily an issue of how much free speech the sisters were going to have,” Thomas Reese, the senior analyst with The National Catholic Reporter, said about the investigation. “I think under Pope Francis we’re seeing a more open church, one that is willing to have more discussions or debate.”
It’s the fresh atmosphere of dialogue that draws out the supporters of the Nuns on the Bus. Margaret Mary Moore of St. Louis cited her concerns about poverty, racism and police brutality in St. Louis as the reason she attended the rally.
“For us as laypeople, it’s a stunning example of the gospel,” Moore said about the Nuns on the Bus. “A lot of women now are really getting in touch with their ability to make a difference in society and in the church.”
The church hierarchy has “been in a position of entitlement and power for so long,” she added.
Campbell said while the role of women in the Roman Catholic Church is slowly starting to change under Pope Francis, there is still a long way to go.
“It’s oozing forward,” she said. “Pope Francis appointed a woman, for the first time, to head one of the eight theological schools in Rome. And she’s very prominent now in Rome circles, which is historic because the rules had always said it had to be an ordained priest, and she’s not ordained. But she’s a sister leading the school.”
She added, “So it’s coming slowly.”
“At least it’s become an issue,” said Lois Martens, one of the many nuns who flocked to St. Louis to welcome the bus. “When I first entered the community [in 1957], that was not even on the horizon.”
“One of the little-known things about the Catholic Church is the role of the sisters building the church,” Reese said. “They were the ones that staffed the schools and parishes. They were the ones that built the hospitals. They were the ones that were involved with so much charitable work in the United States.”
The two-week tour will make 33 stops along some 2,000 miles in Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio and West Virginia — states chosen because of their stark political divides.
The tour will end in Washington, D.C., where the nuns will host a rally to welcome Francis to the capital.
Reese said, “I think he’d be very comfortable riding on the bus with the nuns.”
Concerns that sisters had strayed from church doctrine and become too liberal led to a Vatican overhaul
Document released during Vatican meeting on family life says church should recognize 'positive' aspects of civil unions
Error
Sorry, your comment was not saved due to a technical problem. Please try again later or using a different browser.