These are not easy times for the Catholic Church. Bombarded from outside, conflicted within, it might seem that the Church is going down for the count. After all, for the first time in its history, the United States government seems poised to decide what religions can and cannot believe. That’s what the hullabaloo over Obamacare is all about. The government seems unwilling to grant exemptions for religious beliefs when it comes to health insurance, exemptions it has always granted before. After taking that punch, the Church gets criticism from within after disciplining a leadership organization that represents the majority of nuns and women religious in the United States for being unfaithful to the teaching of the Church. That’s what’s behind the Vatican’s move to call the LCWR (Leadership Council of Women Religious) to accountability. Besieged within and without, the Church might appear to be that outdated, outmoded, irrelevant institution secularists like to denigrate, holding on to belief systems that desperately need to change.
 

Anyone who thinks that, however, would be wrong. Now, for the first time in many years, the Catholic Church in the United States is standing firm in the public sphere for the rights of her people to worship freely in this nation. The Bishops have made it clear: there is no backing down by the faithful when it comes to attacks on religious liberty. It’s going to be a tumultuous summer and a fractious fall as Catholics look within themselves for the courage to be Catholic in the public sphere.
 

The difficulty with the unfaithful LCWR is more problematic. For me and for many, the idea of nuns unfaithful to the Church seems fantastical. I would not be a priest today were it not for the faithful nuns who formed and taught me in my childhood, adolescence and college years. In our diocese we have many spectacular religious women who have sacrificed their lives to serve the Church with their many talents. I am honored to be a colleague working with them. And yet — the organization that represents most of them plays them false. Not so long ago, Bishop Doran asked me to look at the talks given at the LCWR conference. I had the sad experience of reading the same material that so incensed Cardinal Levada at the Vatican. For example, one of the religious women, a scholar, wrote how in this modern world Catholics must go beyond Jesus and beyond Church. In other words, Jesus just wasn’t enough anymore. Last time I looked, them’s fightin’ words for me. This organization has a difficult time supporting basic Catholic morality such as opposition to abortion. Its leadership has problems with Church teaching on sexuality and other points of doctrine such as women priests.
 

Guess what? Whether from inside or outside, a faithful Catholic must oppose the broadsides that hit the Church demanding that she change her beliefs. The Church always needs constructive criticism and reform, but she can never change the essentials. Unfortunately, in its criticism, the LCWR does most of our religious women a grave disservice. Go right now and find a religious sister to thank for her work. Stand up to a government that seeks to take away your right to worship and believe as your faith teaches. There are plenty of people who seek to remake their God-given religion into their own image and likeness. What’s needed today are faithful Catholics who love their Church and are not afraid to proclaim the Catholic message to fellow believers and the world at large.