Ah yes, the indispensable service that most religious orders in the US provide to the Church. After all, where would we be if we didn’t have the “1,000 leaders of US Catholic religious orders” meeting in Texas on Saturday to tell us that “following Jesus simply didn’t mean being dutiful mouthpieces for the Vatican or the American bishops.” That’s right, they’re telling us that they won’t allow “the church to be hijacked by seemingly dictatorial pronouncements by a conservative hierarchy. Be bold, prophetic and, when necessary, even defiant, they told one another.”
Gee, how could we have missed it all these years? The real magisterium is not found in the Pope and the bishops of the world in communion with him. It is found in the leadership of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and the Conference of Major Superiors of Men.
