VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 223   
   DATE 16-12-2014   
      
   Summary:   
   - Presentation of the Final Report of the Apostolic Visitation of Institutes   
   of Women Religious in the United States of America   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Presentation of the Final Report of the Apostolic Visitation of Institutes of   
   Women Religious in the United States of America   
    Vatican City, 16 December 2014 (VIS) - This morning a press conference was   
   held in the Holy See Press Office to present the Final Report of the Apostolic   
   Visitation of Institutes of Women Religious in the United States of America.   
    The speakers in the conference were Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, prefect of   
   the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of   
   Apostolic Life; Archbishop Jose Rodriguez Carballo, O.F.M., secretary of the   
   same congregation; Mother M. Clare Millea, A.S.C.J., director of the Apostolic   
   Visitation in the United States; Sister. Sharon Holland, I.H.M., president of   
   the "Leadership Conference of Women Religious" (LCWR); Sr. Agnes Mary Donovan,   
   S.V., coordinator of the "Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious"   
   (CMSWR), and Fr. Thomas Rosica, C.S.B., assistant to the Visitation Committee.   
    Cardinal Braz de Aviz explained that the Visitation was initiated "because of   
   our awareness that apostolic religious life in the United States is   
   experiencing challenging times. Although we knew that any initiative of this   
   magnitude would have its limits,we wished to gain deeper knowledge of the   
   contributions of the women religious to the Church and society as well as   
   those difficulties which threaten the quality of their religious life and, in   
   some cases, the very existence of the institutes.   
    "Our final report on the Apostolic Visitation is addressed to the women   
   religious of the United States as well as to the Church's Pastors and   
   faithful. In addition to publishing this general report, our Dicastery will   
   send individual reports to those institutes which hosted an on-site visitation   
   and to those institutes whose individual reports indicated areas of concern.   
   We will also send letters of thanks to those institutes which participated in   
   the first two phases of the Visitation. ... We are aware that the Apostolic   
   Visitation was met with apprehension by some women religious as well as the   
   decision, on the part of some institutes, not to collaborate fully in the   
   process. While this was a painful disappointment for us, we use this present   
   opportunity to express our willingness to engage in respectful and fruitful   
   dialogue with those institutes which were not fully compliant with the   
   Visitation process".   
    The cardinal went on to remark that Pope Francis had asked the dicastery, in   
   close collaboration with the Congregation for Bishops, to update the curial   
   document Mutuae Relationes regarding the collaboration among bishops and   
   religious, "in accord with the Church's resolve to foster the ecclesial   
   communion which we all desire". He concluded by expressing his joy at Pope   
   Francis' many recent statements about "the indispensable and unique   
   contributions of women to society and the Church. I assure you that this   
   Congregation is committed to collaborate in the realisation of Pope Francis'   
   resolve that 'the feminine genius' find expression in the various settings   
   where important decisions are made, both in the Church and in social   
   structures. We will continue to work to see that competent women religious   
   will be actively involved in ecclesial dialogue regarding "the possible role   
   of women in decision-making in different areas of the Church's life".   
    Archbishop Jose Rodriguez Carballo, O.F.M, secretary of the Congregation,   
   then went on to present an overview of the final report. He explained that the   
   dicasteries of the Apostolic See regularly authorise Apostolic Visitations,   
   which involve sending one or more visitors to evaluate an ecclesiastical   
   entity in order to assist the group in question to improve the way in which it   
   carries out its mission in the life of the Church. "In some ways, however,   
   this Apostolic Visitation was unprecedented. It involved 341 religious   
   institutes of women religious which engage in apostolic ministry and which   
   have a generalate, provincialate and/or initial formation program in the   
   United States. Both diocesan and pontifical right institutes, to which   
   approximately 50,000 women religious throughout the United States belong, were   
   part of the Visitation. Each province of institutes which had more than one   
   province in the United States was considered a separate unit, for a total of   
   405 entities involved in the Visitation. Our dicastery appointed a woman   
   religious from the United States, Mother Mary Clare Millea, A.S.C.J., as   
   Apostolic Visitator, granting her the faculties to design and carry out the   
   Visitation. She, in turn, chose a core team of American religious who assisted   
   her throughout the process".   
    "The Visitation took place between 2009 and 2012 and was divided into four   
   phases. In the first phase, 266 superiors general (78% of their total   
   number)voluntarily engaged in personal dialogue with the Visitator.   
   Subsequently, all major superiors were asked to complete a questionnaire   
   requesting empirical data and qualitative information regarding the spiritual,   
   community and ministerial life of the individual institutes. On-site visits   
   were then conducted in a representative sample of 90 religious institutes,   
   representing about half of the apostolic women religious in the United States.   
   In the final phase of the Visitation, the Visitator submitted to our dicastery   
   a final general report on the major issues and trends in women's religious   
   life in the United States. While these trends cannot be presumed to apply to   
   each of the institutes, they were significant enough to warrant mention in her   
   report".   
    "The document we are presenting today is our Congregation's response to the   
   Vistitator's general report. Following a brief introduction, it describes the   
   rationale and offers an overview of the Visitation process. It then briefly   
   treats the principal issues evaluated during the Visitation process: empirical   
   data, charism and identity, vocations and religious formation, Christ-centred   
   prayer, community life and ministry, governance and financial stewardship,   
   collaboration in the evangelising mission of the Church and ecclesial   
   communion. On each of these topics, a point of reference is given in the form   
   of a brief statement of current Church teaching on the issue being reviewed.   
   This is followed by a summary of the Visitator's overall evaluation of the   
   reality. The third part of each section contains the Congregation's   
   recommendations to all religious institutes regarding that issue".   
    Archbishop Rodriguez Carballo added that "any oral summary of the Apostolic   
   Visitation during this press conference would risk impoverishing its content.   
   The full text of the Report will be made available for consultation at:   
   www.vatican.va, www.uisg.org, www.vidimusdominum.org, www.lcwr.org,   
   www.cmswr.org, and www.usccb.org) and will be sent to all the participating   
   religious institutes.   
    The Visitator, Sr. M. Clare Millea, A.S.C.J., remarked that the Visit had   
   provided many opportunities for "reflection, dialogue and communion among   
   women religious in the United States as well as with the Church's pastors and   
   lay faithful. Congregation leaders, including those who at first expressed   
   resistance to this initiative, have shared that the process has yielded   
   surprising positive results, such as honest confrontation with the   
   transformative power of the Word of God, deep spiritual conversations with our   
   sisters about the life, witness and message of our foundresses and founders,   
   earnest delving into Church documents about consecrated life, increased   
   solidarity among women religious and renewed desire to move beyond attitudes   
   which prevent us from being in communion with one another, a wonderful   
   outpouring of loving gratitude expressed to women religious by bishops, clergy   
   and laypersons, which has sparked new energy and resourcefulness among us and   
   awakened a renewed interest in the promotion of vocations to the religious   
   life".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Other Pontifical Acts   
    Vatican City, 16 December 2014 (VIS) - The Holy Father has appointed Fr.   
   Samson Shukardin, O.F.M., as bishop of Hyderabad (area 137,386, population   
   22,309,840, Catholics 47,242, priests 30, religious 89), Pakistan. The   
   bishop-elect was born in Hyderabad, Pakistan in 1961, gave his solemn vows in   
   1991 and was ordained a priest in 1993. He holds a diploma in theology from   
   the National Catholic Institute of Theology in Karachi and a licentiate in   
   civil law from the Sindh Law College, and has served in a number of pastoral   
   roles, including parish vicar in Gujrat, procurator of the Franciscan   
   province, and custodian of the Franciscan Order and president of the   
   Conference of Major Superiors in Pakistan. He is currently parish priest of   
   the "St. Elizabeth" parish in Hyderabad, diocesan director of the Commission   
   of Justice and Peace, and vicar general of the diocese of Hyderabad. He   
   succeeds Bishop Max John Rodrigues, whose resignation from the pastoral care   
   of the same diocese upon reaching the age limit was accepted by the Holy   
   Father.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
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