Ask Sister: As if diocesan bishops in this country don’t have enough financial woes, now the Vatican’s Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life wants them to pony up $1.1 million to pay for the upcoming study of institutes of women religious in the U.S. — a study that the congregation ordered. Given the number of dioceses that have cut their budgets, I’m not sure where Cardinal Franc Rode, prefect of the congregation who wrote the letter seeking funds, thinks the bishops will find the money to pay for this study.
My suggestion to Cardinal Franc is that he send a similar letter to congregations of women religious in this country that are doing OK financially, particularly those that have sold their hospitals or that have entered into lucrative partnerships with other health care entities, inviting them to invest in this study. They ought to be able to access that kind of money.
Book it: Tomorrow is the Feast of St. Jerome, patron saint of librarians.
Catholic quote to note: Speaking Sept. 12 in Philadelphia at a symposium marking the 25th anniversary of the U.S. black bishops’ pastoral letter on racism titled “What We Have Seen and Heard,” Bishop J. Terry Steib of Memphis said he has reopened inner-city Catholic schools, known as Jubilee Schools, in which most of the students are not Catholic:
“Our mission, because of our baptism, is to teach our children the good news about Jesus Christ. What better way to go about it than through the Jubilee Schools? We don’t maintain the Jubilee Schools because the children are Catholic; we maintain the Jubilee Schools because we are Catholic.”
