Nuns and the Pope
Nuns are trained to be obedient, but still question their role in the church.
With his conservative doctrine, the pope has become a divisive figure among American women, but for nuns, who must take a vow of obedience upon their final profession to the Catholic Church, it is controversial to voice criticism.
New York City’s Catholic community had been preparing for the pope’s first visit to United States for weeks, but one nun, Sr. Mary Bernadette Reis, 41, who lives at the convent of the Daughter’s of St. Paul in Staten Island, was not as excited the rest of her community. She is the only nun in her small order to who said she is skeptical of Pope Benedict XVI.
“While we were preparing for the pope’s visit a group of nuns had wanted to serenade him at midnight the evening before the mass,” said Reis. “To me, that kind of behavior is a little immature and naïve. I have respect for him, but I’m critical.”
Reis’s criticism of the pope began before he was elected when she had the opportunity to read and review “Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Collaboration of Men and Women in the Church and in the World,” a paper which had been approved by the pope while he was still a cardinal.
“What the paper said about women’s roles in the world was very balanced, however when it addressed women’s roles in the church it became abstract and distant and took on the pronoun ‘it’, “ she said. “We lost our femininity. The paper declared that women cannot be priests, failing to mention any other major roles for women within the church. Finally, contrary to the title, the paper said nothing about men.”
Catholic laywomen, who are not shackled by a vow of obedience, have also begun to question the pope’s opinion of women.
Ann Ryan, 63, a retired registered nurse who was browsing the aisles of Pauline Books and Media, a store run by the Daughter’s of St. Paul, is devoted to the Catholic leader, but aware of his failings regarding women.
“I love Benedict, but I don’t know if he has too much time for women,” Ryan said. “I don’t think he appreciates women as much he should. But he is the pope and he portrays and articulates the message of Jesus.”
The fact that Benedict XVI is human is something that Reis said is often ignored by both nuns and lay Catholics alike, which leads to complete deference to his judgment.
“It seems that people don’t view the papacy as being bound by the limitations of man,” said Reis.
For Sr. Susan John Kraus, the mother superior of the Staten Island convent, obedience to the pope is not only mandatory, but instinctive. The pope is a central part of her religious and personal life.
“He is the Vicar of Christ; he is serene and guided by the Holy Sprit,” Kraus said.
Sr. Mary Joan Baldino, 79, a Daughter of St. Paul who first came to the Untied States from Italy as a nun in her 20s, viewed the pope’s visit with an excitement that she could barely verbalize.
“It is a dream. It is wonderful that he is coming,” she said in a heavy Italian accent.
The oldest of the Daughter’s of St. Paul’s group, Baldino monitors the pope daily, keeping the other sisters updated on his activities. She owns several pictures books of him as well as every book he’s written. A large calendar outfitted with 12 glossy photographs of the pope hangs on the convent’s kitchen wall and framed pictures of him are scattered around the rest of the house. Reis said this kind of adoration is the norm for most nuns.
Reis, who joined the convent over 20 years ago, is unwavering in her devotion to her religion, but still struggles with the pope’s position on women. She has also been avidly watching the pope, to gauge which direction he will steer the topic of Catholic women.
“The church has a responsibility to women which is not being addressed right now,” she said. “A dialogue about the roles of women in the Catholic Church must be started. We haven’t really seen him say much about women since he became pope, but he has invited 250 women to Rome to talk about their roles within the church, a meeting he specifically called for himself.”
That, said Reis, gives her hope.
“I’m heartened by what Pope Benedict has done,” she said. “I’m still critical of him, but heartened.”