A letter to a woman religious

A letter to a woman religious

NCR

By Phyllis Zagano

Phyllis Zagano

Dear Betty, The whole thing is a heartbreak. I can picture the tears you've shed, for your community, for your vocation, for your very life. Please believe me, nothing was wasted. The noise coming from Rome about American women religious is in large part just that: the blustering of old men, translated into official-looking documents by cassock-clad junior clerics who wistfully wander the Curia's halls dreaming of a more orderly church, where lace is white and lay folk are quiet. It might sound like an indictment of you, but the world heard it as an indictment of them. They want a tidy, controlled church. That's not likely to happen.