CDF issues assessment of LCWR; Bishop Paprocki appointed to assist the Archbishop Delegate

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith today released a Doctrinal Assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) that has, as its primary concern,

the doctrine of the faith that has been revealed by God in Jesus Christ, presented in written form in the divinely inspired Scriptures, and handed on in the Apostolic Tradition under the guidance of the Church's Magisterium.

Begun in 2008, the investigation and communications that led to today's assessment wereled by the Most Reverend Leonard Blair, Bishop of Toledo, who served as the CDF's Delegate for the Assessment.

The assessment, which is aimed at the "renewal" of the LCWR,

arises out of a sincere concern for the life of faith in some Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.  It arises as well from a conviction that the work of any conference of major superiors of women Religious can and should be a fruitful means of addressing the contemporary situation and supporting religious life in its most "radical" sense - that is, in the faith in which it is rooted [emphasis original].

Among the "serious doctrinal problems" that affect the LCWR, the assessment highlights the following:

1. Addresses at the LCWR Assemblies;
2. Policies of Corportate Dissent; and
3. Radical Feminism

Such issues are "grave and a matter of serious concern" which need to be addressed.  To this end, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith appointed His Excellency the Most Reverend Peter Sartain, Archbishop of Seatle, as the Archbishop Delegate who has been given the following mandate:

1. To revise the LCWR Statutes;
2. To review the LCWR plans and programs;
3. To create new LCWR programs for member Congregations;
4. To review and guide liturgical norms and texts; and
5. To review LCWR links with affiliated organizations

This mandate is given "for a period of up to five years."  "It will be the task of the Archbishop Delegate to work collaboratively with the officers of the LCWR to achieve the goals outlined in this document, and to report on the progress of this work to the Holy See."

To assist the Archbishop Delegate the Holy See has appointed two assisting Bishops, the Most Reverend Leonard Blair, Bishop of Toledo, and the Most Reverend Thomas John Paprocki, Bishop of Springfield in Illinois.