Leadership Conference of Women Religious
| Formation | November 1956 |
|---|---|
| Founded at | Chicago, Illinois, United States |
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Membership
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43,664 (2012) |
The Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) is the association of the leaders of congregations of Catholic women religious in the United States. Founded in 1956, the conference includes over 1500 members, who are members of congregations that include approximately 80 percent of the 48,000 women religious in the United States as of 2015. The conference describes its charter as assisting its members to "collaboratively carry out their service of leadership to further the mission of the Gospel in today's world." The canonically-approved organization collaborates in the Catholic church and in society to "influence systemic change, studying significant trends and issues within the church and society, utilizing our corporate voice in solidarity with people who experience any form of violence or oppression, and creating and offering resource materials on religious leadership skills." The conference serves as a resource both to its members and to the public who are seeking resources on leadership for religious life.
In April 2015 the Vatican closed a controversial, multi-year investigation initiated in 2012 by Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). J. Peter Sartain, archbishop of Seattle, was appointed to work with the conference. The investigation embittered many American Catholics "against what they perceive as heavy-handed tactics by Rome against U.S. sisters who provide critical health care, education, and other services for the poor." While Pope Francis reaffirmed the canonical investigation and the organization's members were ordered to review their statutes and reassess their plans and programs, the Vatican in its conclusion was effusive in its praise of the nuns' work. The joint final report of both the Vatican and the LCWR stated that the conference is "a public juridic person centered on Jesus Christ and faithful to the teachings of the Church," its publications "need a sound doctrinal foundation," and "when exploring contemporary issues, particularly those which, while not explicitly theological nevertheless touch upon faith and morals, LCWR expects speakers and presenters to have due regard for the Church’s faith"
In April 1956 the Holy See's Congregation of the Affairs of Religious requested that nuns in the U.S. form a national conference. In November of that year, the committee of nuns in the U.S. called a meeting in Chicago of general and provincial superiors of pontifical communities to consider the formation of a national conference. They voted unanimously to establish the Conference of Major Superiors of Women (CMSW) to "promote the spiritual welfare" of the country's women religious, "insure increasing effectiveness of their apostolate," and "foster closer fraternal cooperation with all religious of the United States, the hierarchy, the clergy, and Catholic associations." Its Statutes were approved by the Sacred Congregation for Religious in 1962. The name was changed in 1971 to the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. Its revised Statutes were approved by the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (CICLSAL) in 1989. In 1992 the CICLSAL approved the establishment of the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious (CMSWR), as an alternative superiors conference. The LCWR contains a "Vatican II reformed" membership while the CMSWR contains a "more traditional or conservative" membership; congregations led by LCWR members represent approximately 80% of women religious in the United States.
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