Lastest dissident nun needs to get her theology straight.

In case you haven't heard, the Vatican recently came out against the LCWR, that is, the Leadership Conference of Women Religous. The LCWR represents more than 80% of the 57,000 women religious in the United States and they were "stunned" late last month when a 2 year Vatican investigation revealed that the LCWR wasn't holding to Church teaching regarding the ordination of women priestess, abortion and homosexuality. Basic theology had been transformed into new age spiritualism, indeed, a simple search on the LCWR's annual conference show that their keynote speakers range from pro-abortion journalists to New Age spiritual advocates.

The following are excerpts from a recent interview with one of these dissident nuns, Sister Brigid McDonald with my comments added. You can read the entire interview here.

MinnPost: What are you hearing in your community about the decision?
Sister Brigid McDonald: Well, some are shocked that he would go that far, you know, to start using his power. Sorry Sister McDonald, he isn't using his power, he is using THE AUTHORITY of his office. The AUTHORITY invested to his office by Christ Himself. To me, it is a misuse of power, a misuse of authority where he can step into religious communities and dictate how they should speak about these issues. Sorry Sister McDonald but there is no way that the Pope can misuse his AUTHORITY, Christ sent the Holy Spirit among the disciples to remind them of all the thing that He had taught them (Jn. 14:26), thereby preserving the disciples - including Peter - from ever transmitting a falsehood when it came to teaching. Apostolic Succession dictates that the current Peter, Pope Benedict XVI, by virtue of his office, is also preserved from wrongfully proclaimating an infallible truth. And, the truth is, you are wrong.

MP: When you say “he,” you are talking about Benedict?
SBM: Yes. I still call him Ratzinger. Simply Ratzinger?!? How about The Supreme Pontiff? The Vicar of Christ? Or what about The Bishop of Rome? Successor of Peter, Prince of the Apostles? Patriarch of the West? Servant of The Servants of God? Or how about, simply, His Holiness the Pope? You see Sister, these are the official titles that are reserved for the Pope; the same way that you have a title as well Ms. McDonald. That fits him better. But that is just a personal bias...I can't even begin to imagine what he could say or do that would change religious women's beliefs. If in fact your "beliefs" go contrary to established dogma/doctrine and they oppose the Church by undermining it then, quiet frankly, it might be time for some of you nuns to go back and study theology a little bit more in detail; it isn't the Church that should change, it's you and the heretical nuns that need to change these so-called beliefs. I don't know how he plans to change that. That is of concern. That could be scary — what will he do to change our beliefs. You know, that scares me. Not having eternal salvation because you chose to ignore the truth of the Catholic Church, should be more scarier.

MP: Can you speak a little bit more about that, the difference between changing your belief and silencing you, and where that line gets murky?
SBM: You are right, those are two different issues. If he wants us just to shut up about how we believe and don't put it out in public,  that is one issue. Or if he is really trying to get us to make statements that are opposite of our beliefs, [There is no "our beliefs," only the beliefs of the One, Holy and Apostolic Church and either you choose to abide by it's AUTHORITY or you choose to live willfully and deliberately against it.] I don't know what his motivation is for this. Gee, I wonder if we could find out what the Popes motivations are? Hmmmm, let's see, Holy Scripture says that Jesus told Peter to feed and tend to his flock (Jn 21:15-17) and the CCC #882 states that the Pope is "the perpetual and visual source and foundation of unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful." You Sister are not in unity with the Church of Christ, so it is up to the Vicar of Christ to reign in the canonical abuses that the LCWR has wrought. Other than control, I don't know what his motivation is.

I think it is pretty impossible for us to all change our beliefs on these issues to coincide with his beliefs. That sounds impossible.

MP: Can you tell me what you are hearing? Are people afraid?
SBM: It is interesting. The nuns that I talk to aren't really afraid, because they can't see or they can't imagine what he would do to change us. I mean, like, excommunication? That is a thing of the past. You can't excommunicate hundreds of nuns...He can, he has the AUTHORITY to do so. Imagine the message that Holy Mother Church would send if Pope Benedict XVI excommunicated, not hundreds of nuns, but a select few (the leaders mainly) of these dissident nuns. I refuse to believe that all the women religious that belong to the LCWR are all heretics.

MP: One thing that I have been told is a bishop will now screen all of the speakers at your meetings. Will that have any practical effect?

SBM: ...he has tried to silence people in our schools. That could be a very severe possibility, to silence some of the voices, really the social justice voices, you know. Maybe they get around it some way. I don't know. 

Why is he picking old nuns? Because it's obvious that the "old nuns" are brooding resentment of the Church's instilled AUTHORITY. The simple fact that the Vatican is attempting to correct your wrongs should be seen for what it is: as a sign from a loving and caring father and mother guiding you towards the right direction. More than half of us are over 75. We are almost an endangered species now. If he is trying to really change the church, he should start at the level with youth and talk to youth groups or something like that. By the looks of the smashing success that occured in Spain during World Youth Day, I'd say he's already started.

He should start with getting his priests together and try to help them through some of their problems. He should get after them for molestation. And, let's also not forget the molestions that occured under the nuns as well.

MP: Somebody suggested to me that nuns in the past had enjoyed some latitude because you were thought to be powerless, and that in a strange way, this might be recognition that your ministry is powerful.
SBM: That is good insight. Because [before] we were just school teachers and we just had nice little kids in front of us, you know, and we just emptied bed pans in the nursing homes and in the hospitals. But now they are right, we are out there in the different movements. We help with the Occupy movement and the right-to-choice movements. Whoa! Wait a sec. So, you mean to tell me that you support the Occupy movement and all of it's quasi-pseudo Socialist/Marxist/Communistic political views? You must've forgotten CCC# 2425 which states that the Church is wholly against socialism and communism since the modernist mentality springs from both and yet, you fight for it as a cause! As well as "right-to-choice" movements??? I mean, do you really not know why the Vatican has called out the LCWR?

It is giving us more credibility in the public. Lots of times people will call and seek out our opinions about certain issues, where it never was that way when I entered the convent...And instead of purpetuating the truth, you've chosen to promulgate lies. You and other women religious of your ilk have instead taken you positions and abused it; you took the calling that the one true God gave you and have perverted and twisted His truth to justify your view. The truth is hard, very hard to swallow and telling anything but the truth to those that have been entrusted to you and have seeked your counsel (gift of the Holy Spirit, remember?) is to blatantly lie and dishonestly proclaim the Church in a totally different light then what She really is.