Fridays With McBrien

Reading Fr. Richard McBrien's old columns has turned out to be addictive.  He had the kind of writing style and a clarity of thinking that allowed him to put things simply I could only hope to approach.  As I recall, the Church World carrying his column usually came in the Friday mail.  I usually wouldn't see it until I went to visit my mother on the weekend.   I think I'll post his old columns on some Fridays unless I'm requested not to.   Here's the last one posted on his website from December 17, 2012.

The Year of the Nuns

A professional relationship already exists, writes Sister Ann Oestreich, IHM, congregation justice coordinator for the Sisters of the Holy Cross, between shareholders and corporate executives, but a personal relationship develops and grows between equal parties in a dialogue.

According to Sister Oestreich in the liturgical bulletin of the Church of Our Lady of Loretto, St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana, in 2012 the Congregation of the Holy Cross engaged in four corporate dialogues. Two dialogues were with oil and gas companies, Chevron and Halliburton, on reviewing and implementing human rights policies across their global operations. 

Both companies are working with religious shareholders to update their human rights policies referring to the statute set forth in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 

They are also adding human rights language to future supplier contracts to ensure negotiations for just wages and a repudiation of labor trafficking practices. Shareholders and corporate representatives have quarterly conference calls to ensure that progress on these issues is being made. 

As a result of the work against sex trafficking at the 2012 Super Bowl in Indianapolis, the congregation purchased stock in Choice Hotels International and joined a dialogue with its corporate executives. 

Shareholders urged Choice to sign the industry’s Code of Conduct to Eliminate Child Prostitution and Trafficking (ECPAT) and to train its employees to recognize and safely report any suspected incidences of trafficking they observe. 

Finally, the Congregation of the Holy Cross joined other religious communities in dialogue with the Hershey Corporation regarding child labor trafficking in the cocoa fields of West Africa, especially Ivory Coast and Ghana. 

Shareholders have been urging Hershey and other chocolatiers to recognize the kidnapping of children and abusive working and health conditions workers endure while harvesting cocoa pods used to produce chocolates sold around the world. 

Hershey is a United States-based chocolate company that imports 70 percent of its cocoa from West Africa and holds 43 percent of the U.S. chocolate market. 

In a surprise move on October 3, 2012, Hershey agreed to certify 100 percent of its chocolate by 2020. Shareholders are praising this move by Hershey and will work with the company to determine a consistent certification process over the next five to seven years. 

The Holy Cross nuns are obviously in good hands with Sister Ann Oestreich, IHM, acting as justice coordinator for the congregation. The Church, too, is in good hands with sisters like Ann Oestreich doing this important ministry. 

If only the Vatican and conservative U.S. bishops, whether working in the Vatican or not, understood what American nuns understand; namely, that abortion and same-sex marriage aren’t the only social justice issues that should concern us. 

You can see how much good qualified nuns like Ann Oestreich can accomplish by engaging in this difficult ministry. The Vatican and conservative U.S. bishops should simply say “Thank you” and then get out of the way and let the nuns do their work on behalf of the Kingdom of God. 

Unfortunately, this has not been the case in recent years. First, there was the “visitation” of religious communities of women, causing many of them to put their ministries aside to prepare the paperwork required by the Vatican. 

Then there was the harassment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), as if their orthodoxy were in question. 

The Vatican, responding to complaints from various right-wing voices in the U.S. hierarchy, religious, and laity, was unimpressed with American nuns’ commitment to the poor and to various justice issues, like the concerns described above. The CDF felt that there should be greater emphasis on abortion and same-sex marriage and not a trace of advocacy for the ordination of women. 

The U.S. bishops lost even more of their own magisterial credibility with the re-election of Barack Obama as President of the United States. After so many of them expressed opposition to Obama’s candidacy, at least half of the Catholics, and probably more, paid no attention to them when they voted. However, in large numbers, Catholics continue to support and appreciate the ministry of the nuns. 

2012 was truly the Year of the Nuns. 

Postscript:  It's too bad that Fr. McBrien didn't live long enough to see the positive resolution of the inquisition brought under Benedict XVI and the right-wing bishops, which I'm certain would have ended very badly if Pope Francis hadn't replaced Benedict.

LCWR issued a statement about the papal meeting, saying the opportunity "allowed us to personally thank Pope Francis for providing leadership and a vision that has captivated our hearts and emboldened us as in our own mission and service to the church."

"We were also deeply heartened by Pope Francis' expression of appreciation for the witness given by Catholic sisters through our lives and ministry and will bring that message back to our members," the leaders said.

Thursday's news seems to bring to an end what had been an especially contentious period between the women religious and the Vatican.

The Catholic Church won BECAUSE the nuns won it.