Sunday 4 March 2018

NUNS AS BISHOPS SERVANTS?



Women, Church, World’ highlights that nuns cook and clean for clergy for little pay.

The March edition of Women, Church, World, the monthly women’s magazine of the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, highlighted that nuns cook and clean for senior Catholic clergy for next to no pay. File photograph: Getty Images

   
A Vatican magazine has denounced the treatment of nuns as indentured servants by cardinals and bishops.

The March edition of Women, Church, World, the monthly women’s magazine of the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, highlighted that nuns cook and clean for senior Catholic clergy for next to no pay.

The exposé on the underpaid labour and unappreciated intellect of religious sisters confirmed that the magazine is increasingly becoming an imprint of the #MeToo movement within the Catholic Church.

One lead article said of the nuns: “Some of them serve in the homes of bishops or cardinals, others work in the kitchens of church institutions or teach. Some of them, serving the men of the church, get up in the morning to make breakfast, and go to sleep after dinner is served, the house cleaned and the laundry washed and ironed.”

A nun, identified only as Sr Marie, describes how sisters serve clergy but “are rarely invited to sit at the tables they serve”.

Common knowledge

While such servitude is common knowledge, it is remarkable that an official Vatican publication would dare put such words to paper and publicly denounce how the church systematically exploits its own nuns.

Women, Church, World began six years ago as a monthly insert in L’Osservatore Romano and is now a stand-alone magazine distributed for free online and alongside the printed newspaper in Italian, Spanish, French and English.

Its editor, Lucetta Scaraffia, told the Associated Press: “Until now, no-one has had the courage to denounce these things. We try to give a voice to those who don’t have the courage to say these words.”

While Pope Francis has told Ms Scaraffia he appreciates and reads the magazine, it is by no means beloved within the deeply patriarchal Vatican system. Recent issues have raised eyebrows, including the March 2016 edition on “women who preach”, which appeared to advocate allowing lay women to deliver homilies at Mass.

One of the authors had to publish a subsequent clarification saying he did not mean to suggest a change to existing doctrine or practice. – Associated Press

PAT SAYS:

In the past many nuns were treated as second class members of religious life by clergy and bishops.

While some nuns worked in professional roles like nursing and teaching many others were treated as "he were of wood and drawers of water".

There was even a distinction in convents between first class "choir sisters" who brought a dowry with them to the convent and so called "lay sisters" from poor families who ca.e without a dowry.

These second class ones were literally the unpaid servants of other nuns, priests and bishops.

In the past most bishops would have had three nuns as servants to do the washing, cleaning, cooking, laundry etc.

Thankfully in the Church nowadays nuns are regarded as having vocations and many of them are university lecturers, counsellors and part of parish teams.

There are enough people in the world needing paid jobs to do the domestic duties for clergy.

In fact many bishops these days have a lay PA as their private secretary rather than a priest.

There are so few priests and nuns these days that it in an absolute abuse for a bishop to have a priest or nun as a servant of any kind.

Priests and nuns should be fully involved in pastoral and evangelizing roles.

We often talk on this blog about priests like Timothy Bartlett who are "parish shy" - too good to be parish priests.

They want to sit around in offices all day hoping and praying to be bishops.

57 comments:

  1. You’ve changed track. Thank goodness (not) you are a total waste of space. Using Nuns now for your argument - how so pathetic. You won’t publish this.

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  2. Pat, there was a nun (I think she was St Louis) - Sr Sinead - who used to wash Paddy Walsh’s kacks, cook his meals and answer the door in Lisbreen. She decided to moved on.

    Walsh got up, at the Celebration of Consecrated Life in D&C, after Sr Sinead’s departure, to APPEAL for another nun to come forward, to his aid, as his smalls-washer, floor-sweeper, etc.

    There was utter consternation among the D&C religious.

    Yes, Pat, you mention Bartlett again. A parish-dodger. Too good to serve - but destined to be served!

    How did he get the prestigious WMOF gig? Brady!

    Brady rewards his own. Paul Prior was brought to Maynooth by Brady, even though there were concerns, about Prying Paul, in Rome, voiced by students.

    He was curious about students’ erections and masturbatory habits in Rome and he kept this hobby alive, when he was transferred to Maynooth.

    Bartlett is credited with the obscene “wounded healer” epithet for Brady. Bartlett is now on the “make me a bishop” express train.

    Let’s face it - Seán Brady had a far greater reason to resign than John McAreavey had! Seán Brady was kept in office, by spin doctor Bartlett, with his perverse “wounded healer” lie.

    Nuncio, are you reading this? Cancel the Pope’s visit to the WMOF. Take Bartlett off your terna for any Irish diocese.

    He’s not fit to be a diocesan bishop in Ireland. He’s a self-seeking, highly ambitious, career-cleric. We don’t need his ilk anymore. His kind have already done immense harm to the Church in Ireland.

    Nuncio, let Diarmuid Martin take early retirement asap and question him about “Gorgeous “ Michael Byrne.

    Investigate Maynooth thoroughly, it’s “formation team” and how very devious men almost ended up as priests.

    Nuncio! Do something about the evil that is destroying the Catholic Church in Ireland.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Isn’t there a story about someone gambling professionally on the appointment of a bishop using insider trading? That would be an obstacle to anyone’s being appointed.

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    2. Absolutely correct 13:39. Sure it was the talk of the place at the time because the “someone”, among whose other faults is immaturity and lack of discretion, sent messages to a number of clerics that the then unknown Noel Treanor was about to be appointed bishop of Down and Connor.

      Some of those clergy then started betting on NT becoming bishop. Paddy Power bookmakers got suspicious and pulled the plug. It was in the Indo at the time.

      Indeed you would think that such behaviour would call into question the suitability of “someone” as a candidate for the episcopate.

      But then, of course, if that “someone” has high-ranking friends, is adept at sycophancy and flattery and skilled at arse-licking - and if that “someone” yearns to become a bishop with all his mind, heart and soul .... ;-)

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    3. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2008/02/bishop_in_training.html

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    4. This Bartlett again. I'm bewildered by diocesan priests who are ordained to be curates and ultimately PPs to serve in parishes who then spend decades avoiding parishes.

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    5. Timo was ordained a priest to be a bishop. Priestly ordination was just a step on the path to his divinely elected destiny of the episcopate. Parishes are for plebs. He’s too talented for a parish. It’s God’s will - part of the Divine plan - that Tim gets mitred.

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    6. Isn't Tim available to wash episcopal keks, scrub floors, iron from morning to night? It's not as if he has a parish to distract him.

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    7. If he had any wisdom, especially under this Pontificate, Tim would ask for a parish appointment, even for a token six months to put on his CV? Or is he so confident of his patrons that he feels it's unheeded? I'll go to my grave wondering why a priest preferred a desk job. What was the point?

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    8. I work in Human Resources and I'd treat Tim Bartlett as a trainee manager who refused to work on the shop floor and I'd also be worried about his career management if its all been office based in a fundamentally people-facing organisation. I suppose that's a problem for Down and Connor HR Department.

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    9. There is no HR Dept - that’s the problem. Tim and the likes of him see themselves as much too important for the “shop floor”. It’s all a little game. There’s “players” and then you have the lesser mortals who are only good enough for parish work. Such is the attitude. Crazy isn’t it?

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  3. I wonder if the call to be a Sister or Brother in the church is dying out. Perhaps the emphasis now is more towards basic Christian communities. A dear old sister Sr Assumpta was important in developing my vocation. She was the "pot scrubber" in the convent and at the time accepted her role. Most of the others were teachers. I have seen Nuns scurrying round the Vatican. It is important every person is valued for who they are.

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    Replies
    1. You are probably more accustomed to Anglican nuns now.

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    2. That’s a good thing. Anglican nuns are usually highly educated. The only one I’ve been fortunate to meet was a highly accomplished Greek and Latin scholar who retained her elegant CSJB habit.

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    3. 13.22 I dont see Nuns or anybody else as Anglican R Catholic or anything else. People are people and thats it

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  4. “... an absolute abuse for a bishop to have a priest or nun as a servant of any kind.”

    Sounds like Michael Campbell and Robert Billing aka 'Edward and Tubbs' of Lancaster may be an example of this type of abuse.

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    1. Is Billing Tubbs? ROFL!

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    2. His surplice in Maynooth had extra pleats inserted by Sr Regis to take account of his Pugin Hall collations.

      Always bucking the trend, though some said he was just being a controversialist, he used to bring a small Tupperware tubful of Alpen to breakfast in the seminary.

      None of the own brand cornflakes, weetabix and porridge on offer for him.

      In the olden days a healthy appetite was seen as one of the signs of vocation.

      P.S. There was a cooked breakfast every Thursday. We all, including Robert, enjoyed that.

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  5. Pat, what a waste of space you are. Scraping the bottom of the barrel. You are pathetic. Utterly bizzare. What spiritual domain do you inhabit? It certainly has little to do with keeping Sacred the memory of Christ. Far from it.

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  6. Pat, would you consider doing a blog on which candidates out there would make good bishops for the future? as you point out, there are plenty of poor candidates, but there must be good priests working who know and love their communities and who would be great candidates and could inspire the Christian community if only those on high would notice them! Just a thought!

    Also interesting observations today on the importance of the intellectual substance of female religious vocations. I look forward to the day when such women are leading the Congregations in Rome - I can't think of a good reason why it needs to be always a cardinal or bishop in charge. Is that fair? Thanks!

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  7. The women who work on that magazine are unpaid lol.

    Vincent Nichols used to have two nuns (from the Daughters of Wisdom) to look after him in Archbishop's House. Perhaps he stil does.

    Meanwhile Westminster Cathedral Clergy House has a convent in the building, for the Portugese nuns who do all the cooking and laundry. They might as well be enclosed as they are never seen outside the building and play no part in the cathedral itself.

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  8. What a laugh that this is being published from the Vatican. Nuns operate the switchboard there and work in the shops.

    Last year, the Guardian published a series of photo essays. This one is about the workers, including the nuns who spend hours ironing every day, including Sunday.

    https://www.theguardian.com/cities/ng-interactive/2016/sep/12/vatican-unseen-inside-secret-world-workers-photo-essay

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    Replies
    1. I don't think there will be many, if any, queuing up to replace the nuns.

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    2. I read that article. Those nuns are on their feet for most of the day and into the evening in full habits ironing in Roman heat. It's literally a sweatshop. Rerum Novarum doesn't apply to the Vatican it seems.

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    3. What's Francis doing about it? Niente.

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  9. Brady was definitely guilty of far worse than John McA. It still shocks me that he refused to resign and, absolutely, the “wounded healer” was as sick, crass and obscene as you could get. A perverted insult to those who genuinely are wounded healers.

    Timio B is certainly very much associated with Brady. Will it affect the march of his “advancement”? His is a “career” - not a vocation and it is driven by an all-consuming ambition.

    I wonder what it is that some men find so appealing about being a bishop in any case? Most people nowadays view them as figures of suspicion, dislike and ridicule.

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    Replies
    1. Brady got away with it, big-time.

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    2. I've never understood why Cardinal Keith O'Brien was punished but Cardinal Sean Baptist Brady was not. O'Brien's victims were adult seminarians, over the age of consent though their ability to consent was compromised by the power imbalance/nativity.

      Brady on the other hand swore an abused child to secrecy, which as a parent I think is the worst think to inculcate. I wonder if that child experienced further abuse but kept quiet because of his written vow of secrecy.

      Shame on Brady and shame on Bartlett his PR merchant. I won't be at the WMOF.

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    3. I agree, no modern parent would want a child to keep secrets. Imagine a child in 1970s Cavan being asked by a priest in full collar (Sean Brady) to sign a non-disclosure clause). Did SB have no pastoral feeling? Did he not want to take the side of the child, tell him he was ok, not his fault and take him home to his parents?

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    4. No, sadly, it would appear not. Your suggestions to tell the child he's ok, it was not his fault and take him home to his parents are the correct things to do and then afterwards talk to the parents and say that it's a crime that has to be reported in the interests of justice and to protect others.

      But Sean Baptist did none of this and thanks to his disgraceful PR man Bartlett he lived on as the Wounded Healer.

      I honestly believe that the abortion referendum will be lost as people take revenge on the Church. What a legacy of Brady, Duffy, McAreavey.

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  10. The nunciature on Navan Road is staffed by foreign sisters in the domestic department. Their rooms are tiny cells.

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  11. Unless you let me wash your feet Pat, you will never understand the gospel.
    Sr Gabriel (Hand Made of the Lord), Mercy Convent, Larne.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks 13.47: Sr. Gabriel, it's "maid" not "made" or after all our years scrubbing, like me, the eyesight is going. Mind yourself. Now, I've to get supper ready. Keep in touch. Sr. Mary Gondotti. Oh incidentally, I wouldn't touch Pat's feet..He has a servant to do that for him..

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  12. I have one sister doing my laundry, one cooking, one cleaning, one gardening and one warming my bed before I get into it. Imagine how much it would cost me if I had to pay?! Praise the Lord for my team of nuns. I also have a Mrs Doyle and a Secretary.

    Life and ministry is a blessing

    Archbishop's House
    Drumcondra
    Dublin 2

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    Replies
    1. Drumcondra is not Dublin 2. The official address is Dublin 9. His secretary is an ex-sem. Maybe Magna knows him.

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    2. ... maybe had him.

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    3. Are you talking about Joe Merrick?

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    4. Are we talking about scandal?

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    5. Phonsie’s recent appointment of the first lay diocesan secretary in W&L would be worth a further glance.

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  13. Did Timo not attend the DUP Conference and lick their ars*s. Shudder at the thought of that, Marlene alias (Robbie Coltrane) Dodds, Poots, Campbell and Sammy - doesn’t bear thinking about. Timo attended as the first catholic priest to do so - I wonder why?

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  14. MourneManMichael4 March 2018 at 14:07

    As humankind evolved from primitive origins, small mutually supportive groupings proved best for survival. In primitive society, evolvement of hunter gatherer attributes of strength and aggression predominated in the male of the species, and were complemented by child bearing and rearing female characteristics.
    Through countless generations of evolution the female of the species accepted and continued a subservient domestic and home making role. Male characteristics of physical strength were important before humans learned to harness the power of water, steam, electricity etc.
    Post the Industrial Revolution, with progress into a technological society, there is now a much greater element of gender equality evidenced by equal work opportunity and accompanying legislation.
    But as with all progressive movement in society, some institutions always resist change and cling to the status quo of preserved privileges. The RC church is probably one of the best examples of such mentality. This is evident not only in the relationship between the clergy and the 'ordinary' laity, but also between the role of the male priestly class and the class of the subservient female religious.
    Equality is low in the order of priorities of the Roman church, and everything from 'tradition' to the Bible is use to preserve male clerical power and privilege.
    MMM

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    Replies
    1. Says a man with Man in his handle. LOL

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    2. MMM, your post was actually a very incisive analysis.

      Ignore the clown who posted at 21:50. The fact that you p****d him off shows how near the mark you are.

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    3. I was bold enough to comment at 21:50, despite being a woman but MC assumed that I was a man. #patriarchy

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  15. Presently this very moment, I've a nun shovelling snow from my driveway. What's the problem? I need to go shopping - now she's just offered to do that for me!! Hold on - it's Magna Blue in drag!!!I'm confused....

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    Replies
    1. ROFL.
      It's the fag hanging out of his mouth which gives him away, isn't it? Rupaul told him his act needed work.

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    2. You're still smarting, aren't you Faux Magna?

      Hated doing it, but it had to be done. And it was so very easy t'do.😆

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    3. Eh?
      Rather than thinking how you hated it I hope you offered up your snow-shovelling for the Holy Souls in Purgatory.
      Incidentally do you often wear drag? I would have thought such a fragile ego as yours would run a mile from it.

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  16. Hi +Pat,

    Tim B will be speaking on the topic of “Tomorrow’s Parish” in Clonliffe this Thursday. The AB is also a speaker. I wonder will anyone ask if Gorgeous will be part of “Tomorrow’s Parish” ?

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    Replies
    1. The irony is lost on them isn’t it? “Tomorrow’s Parish” by Timbo - a man who would shite himself if he was sent to WORK in a parish!!

      And the other big eejit - Dermo - “Tomorrow’s Parish” you know. Feckin clowns.

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    2. Irony is well and truly dead if parish-dodger Timbo is opining on "Tomorrow's Parish" within earshot of parish-dodger Dermo. Sure neither of them served in yesterday's or today's parishes so I'll take their thoughts with a pinch of incense.

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  17. But why shouldn't clerics have women at their beck and call? They are, after all, ontologically different (oh, alright, then! Ontologically superior).

    Shouldn't women feel blessed and favoured to be skivvying for these men? Shouldn't we all?!

    We don't value our priests enough, these highly favoured men, each called since before the beginning of time to be 'alter christus'.

    Ah! Sure there's nothing at all wrong with clericalism and patriarchy, because they express the nature of God himself.

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  18. 16.46: Magna, have you cleared the footpaths yet for 15.44? Or have you received a heavy snowball on the head - nothing wrong with matriarchy and patriarchy working hand in hand! Have you no such experience?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah! But they don't work hand in hand, do they you idiot?😆 And they probably never will, especially in that institutional monument to injustice and inequality (and child sexual abuse, financial corruption, cronyism, etc) the Roman Catholic Church.😆

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  19. Magna at 20.50: Someone definitely has hit you on the brain with a huge snowball...you are monumentally stupid. and crass.

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    Replies
    1. Pat, for goodness sake, what an absolutely useless blog today. I'm sorry, but it's gutter. Better to not have a new story everyday than have this rubbish.

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