CDF and LCWR issue statement ending Vatican oversight

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) announced it was abruptly ending its three-year oversight of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), two years ahead of schedule, writes Michael Sean Winters.

The announcement came in the form a joint communiqué from the two bodies. “The commitment of LCWR leadership to its crucial role in service to the mission and membership of the conference will continue to guide and strengthen LCWR’s witness,” the communiqué stated. The LCWR represents 80 per cent of women Religious in the US.

Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect of the CDF, expressed his confidence in the LCWR’s ­“mission to support its member institutes by fostering a vision of religious life that is centred on the person of Jesus Christ and is rooted in the tradition of the Church”. The CDF and LCWR said they would not issue further statements for 30 days. The final report did not specify how the Vatican’s concerns had been addressed, nor why the oversight was ending early.

Archbishop J. Peter Sartain, of Seattle, Washington, had been leading the oversight after a doctrinal assessment by the CDF accused the LCWR of hosting speakers and publishing materials that evidence “certain radical themes incompatible with the Catholic faith”. Over the past three years, several women Religious had praised Archbishop Sartain for his compassionate approach to the controversial mandate he had received.