NCR columnist Mercy Sister Camille D'Arienzo was quoted in a column by Jim Dwyer in The New York Times today. Said D'Arienzo, commenting on the work of women religious in America:
“No bishop or anyone told them (the sisters) what to do. It’s the conscience element. The gospel call. The solidarity among ourselves. It can’t be shattered. We’ve been around too long.”
Wrote Dwyer: "To read the (Vatican doctrinal assessment) report here in New York is to feel that somewhere along the alleys and switchbacks of power in Rome, the actuality of life as lived by religious women in much of the United States was lost. The pews in the churches may be empty, but they have turned the lowest places into cathedrals."