Women Religious Seek More Dialogue

Members of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious announced on Aug. 19 at the close of their assembly and national board meeting in Orlando that they were pleased with the dialogue they had with the church official appointed to oversee their organization as part of a Vatican assessment and hoped for “continued conversations of this depth.” L.C.W.R. members met with Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle, appointed by the Vatican doctrinal congregation last year to oversee a reform of the L.C.W.R. In the statement, the sisters said the discussion with the archbishop gave them “hope that continued conversations of this depth will lead to a resolution of this situation that maintains the integrity of L.C.W.R. and is healthy for the whole church.” L.C.W.R. leaders are uncertain about how their “work with the bishop delegates will proceed.” The conference, which represents the majority of 57,000 religious sisters in the United States, has canonical status.