BY Ian Dunn | December 16 | 
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Positive Vatican report on women religious in the US
Review urging orders to keep Christ at the centre of their communities is distinct from the ongoing inquiry into the Leadership Conference of Women Religious
The Vatican has published the results of its Apostolic visitation examining the quality of female religious communities across the US in a report described as realistic yet largely positive.
Voicing thanks to women religious for their service to the Church, the Vatican congregation in charge of religious life also encouraged them to remember to keep Christ at the centre of their communities.
The congregation asked the women religious to ‘carefully review their spiritual practices and ministry’ to ensure that they are ‘in harmony with Catholic teaching about God, creation, the Incarnation and the Redemption.’
Launched in 2009 to examine the quality of religious communities across the US, the visitation included meetings, questionnaires, and visits to about one-quarter of the country’s religious communities. It involved 341 religious congregations, to which approximately 50,000 women in the US belong.
The survey presented religious communities several questions concerning religious orders’ vocation promotion, admission and formation policies, and fidelity to and expression of their vows. The reflections also asked respondents about their concerns for the future of their religious order.
It is distinct from the ongoing inquiry into the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), a canonically-approved body which has over 1500 leaders of women religious communities as members.
The LCWR has been assessed by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who raised concerns of dissent from Church doctrine on theological topics.
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