Wherein Fr. Z expects rejection… again… yet hope springs eternal

As July zooms by, and August swiftly comes, we all recall I’m sure that quote of Emerson, “Do what we can, summer will have its flies.”

Thus, my mind turns to the upcoming annual assembly of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, LCWR.

Once again, they are gathering and, once again, I must apply for press credentials and, once again, I expect to be rejected.

Rejected. Always rejected by the nuns.

This year the nuns will meditate on “the Great Deep”.  From their site:

Springs of the Great Deep Burst Forth: Meeting the Thirsts of the World

Over the years, women religious have been drawn to live more deeply out of a contemplative stance. This stance leads us to explore the world with a vision that penetrates below the surface and draws wisdom and insight from those great depths. The assembly theme, “Springs of the Great Deep Burst Forth: Meeting the Thirsts of the World,” comes in part from the account of the creation of the world in Genesis 7:11. As the Israelites named the enormous reservoir of water that they believed was beneath the surface of the earth “The Great Deep,” so we use the same name for the reservoir of wisdom that we believe can be accessed through living a life of contemplation.

This assembly will explore what is being accessed these days from the Great Deep by women religious, as well as what may be drawn from it to meet the many urgent thirsts experienced throughout the world.

Shall I be granted press credentials?

To quote the Pope.. Alexander Pope:

Hope springs eternal in the human breast;
Man never is, but always to be blessed:
The soul, uneasy and confined from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come.

Apologies for the patriarch language.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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31 Comments

  1. dans0622 says:

    “…live more deeply out of a contemplative stance…” I need an English translation of this before I can comment.

  2. bbmoe says:

    I dunno: is there someone among the sisters who looked at the context of “the great deep”? The springs gushed forth AND KILLED ALL OF HUMANITY.** Ladies, this isn’t the Creation account, it’s the Destruction account.

    So embarrassing.

    **Except for one /patriarch/ and his subordinate children and womenfolk.

  3. Michael says:

    Contemplative religious living lives of prayer and adoration have done indescribable spiritual good.

    Somehow I don’t think they’re talking about that.

  4. Benedict Joseph says:

    The wisdom saying “…if all you have to drink from is a broken glass, avoid the sharp edges…” comes to mind when reading of LCWR. I came across this, a comment from the NCReporter, and it speaks eloquently of the disposition of the LCWR: “… the women of the LCWR could walk out en masse and bid the men of Rome farewell IF many of the ministries and salaries they receive were from sources other than their church affiliations. Those employed in truly secular fields could manage but the interconnection with the RC would make a full March out not feasible.”
    Does this group really represent women religious, vowed to poverty, chastity and obedience in loving devotion to Our Lord Jesus Christ? This is a body in an advanced state of disorientation – or better – decomposition. Best to let them ride the biological time bomb to extinction. There are new and faithful expressions of women’s religious life reclaiming its wisdom and tradition. We know who they are and we applaud them. The remains of once vibrant congregations, with their heads stuck in the “great deep,” just won’t do.

  5. Dick Verbo says:

    I am hoping that the “urgent thirsts experienced throughout the world” turn out to be thirst for the grace of Almighty God, the forgiveness of sins through the bountiful mercy of Jesus Christ, and the gift of eternal life.

  6. acricketchirps says:

    Of course,

    De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine.

  7. Faith says:

    You never know, your request might slip through. Then what would you do?

  8. wanda says:

    Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all.

    Emily Dickinson

  9. SentimentalGent says:

    Father Z., You didn’t say if being rejected in this case was a bad thing or a good thing.

  10. And of course all this wonderful pensing will be interlaced with the harmonizing thoughts of contemplating our world and its creation, via the wisdom of Laudato Si!

  11. Auggie says:

    Fr. Z, the nuns might give you a press pass if you promise to take the bus.

  12. TWF says:

    Were the speakers finally approved by the appropriate patriarchal authorities?

  13. Kerry says:

    Will fly fishing in the Great Deep be on the agenda? Dry flies? Nymphs? Streamers?

  14. Massachusetts Catholic says:

    A thought: Change the name of the blog to Social Justice Warrior Weekly. You may get into the sister’s meeting. Then, you can do the exorcism of place…

  15. JesusFreak84 says:

    Frankly, I’m surprised they mentioned Scripture at all in that blurb =-p

  16. mburn16 says:

    Hmm. “Nuns”

    You know in Spanish they have two distinct verbs to define a state of being, with “es” being a more permanent condition than “esta”. So if I say “Maria esta borracho”, it means she partied a little too much last night. If I say “Bill es un borracho”, it means its a regular occurance.

    I wonder if we don’t need a similar concept in English for those who are “nuns” but not nuns…

  17. Sonshine135 says:

    Father Z, If by some slight chance you end up in the bursting springs of the Great Deep, don’t forget to bring your hip waders. Something tells me the conversations will be equally as “deep”.

  18. wmeyer says:

    Father, I know it will be a blow, but do try to bear up. We will think no less of you here for your failure to meet the high standards of the Nuns on the Bus(TM).

  19. Joseph-Mary says:

    How very….cosmic of them. But not Christian.
    Losing most of our holy contemplative religious has affected the whole world in a negative way.

  20. benedetta says:

    That’s a cool image for their convivium this year. I hope you get in, Father. I am quite fond of the chambered nautilus for various reasons. The logo calls to mind the famous poem by the American jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes. Although today when I think of Oliver Wendell I can only contemplate Oliver Wendell Jones whom I hope to see once again with regular frequency as in days of old, particularly during campaigning festivals in these USA. It is rather quaint no to consider that an American Supreme Court justice would have penned a poem about the soul which humanists do well to bank on its appearance sooner rather than later when a human person comes into being in all its developing splendor. Ah, fibonacci sequences, fun.

  21. The Masked Chicken says:

    “Over the years, women religious have been drawn to live more deeply out of a contemplative stance. This stance leads us to explore the world with a vision that penetrates below the surface and draws wisdom and insight from those great depths.”

    Hmmm… I suppose that navel gazing is a contemplative stance, of sorts. St. John of the Cross was very clear that Faith is the proximate means of union (read: contemplation) with God. If these women were contemplating God, at all, they would be drawn, by Faith, into a purity of union with the Catholic Church. It is interesting that at least some of the more traditional Carmelite nuns belong to the CMSWR – the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious. The keynot speaker for their Novemeber meeting will be Archbishop Augustine DiNoia, adjunct secretary for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faoth. Interesting difference.

    The Chicken

  22. My old offer still stands – a pantsuit, some pearl earrings, and don’t shave for a couple of days. You’ll fit right in.

    Consider a paisley pashmina if it’s chilly.

  23. kiwiinamerica says:

    More “New Age” mumbo jumbo from these self-absorbed neo-pagans.

    Time will eventually rid us of this nonsense as the demographic solution kicks in and decimates these dying religious orders.

  24. Art says:

    Wow. Sounds like something straight from the New-Age BS generator or from Deepak Chopra instead of God.

  25. FL_Catholic says:

    Makes you wonder if these nuns were ever Catholic in the first place. Do any of them read these things and say to themselves “wow, this really sounds stupid”?? The next logical step for the growth of their “cosmic” selves would be to start working with Darryl Anka and communing with the 4th dimensional aliens from the future: http://www.bashar.org

  26. Suburbanbanshee says:

    Better known as the Abyss. (And less romantically, “groundwater.”)

  27. germangreek says:

    What ‘patriarch (sic) language?’ That was just normal English.

  28. catholiccomelately says:

    My M.Div is 35 years old and from a Lutheran seminary …. and even I recognize that the waters that spring forth from the Great Deep in Genesis 7:11 are the waters of chaos and destruction unleashed by God to destroy the sinful earth by the great Flood. Not depths of wisdom.
    Lord, have mercy.

  29. Mike says:

    How long will we cling to the notion that resurgent paganism and Gnosticism are confined to a senescent fringe? It is chilling to consider the wild laughter in Hell as complacent Modernist clergy and laity either openly welcome these evils or, at most, offer no more challenge to them than a occasional dismissive wave of the hand.

    The notion among present-day destroyers of the faith that the pendulum is swinging back in their direction has sadly little evidence to refute it. Visible, unapologetic witness to Truth in word and deed is as vital now as at any time in the Church’s history.

  30. The Cobbler says:

    “Springs of the Great Deep Burst Forth”
    “Hope springs eternal…”
    I see what you did there.

  31. fishonthehill says:

    Oh how eschatological… reflecting on the grave they all soon will inherit.

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