¹ “The visitation of women's religious communities is enmeshed in the unsettled questions about the interpretation of the council.” Cardman, Francine, America, Vol. 202: 1 (January 4, 2010), pp. 10–14Google Scholar.

² “Stonehill symposium helped lead to women religious investigation.” Thomas C. Fox, National Catholic Reporter, 46:2 (November 13, 2009) pp. 10–11. Speakers included Ann Cary, author of Sisters in Crisis: The Tragic Unraveling of Women's Religious Communities (Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor) 1997 and Slovenian Cardinal Franc Rodé, CM (b. 1934), then-Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

³ “Doctrinal Assessment of LCWR by Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith”http://www.lcwr.org/what'snew/assessment.htm (accessed 7 November 2010).

⁴ “…there is a ten-year gap in average and median entrance age between women in LCWR institutes and women in CMSWR institutes. According to the survey of religious institutes, more than half of the women in initial formation in LCWR institutes (56 percent) are age 40 and older, compared to 15 percent in CMSWR institutes.” Mary E. Bendyna and Mary L. Gautier “Recent Vocations to Religious Life: A Report for the National Religious Vocation Conference” Washington, DC: Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, 2009.

⁵ CARA reports 173,865 US women religious in 1965, and 79,876 in 2000.

⁶ The three-part questionnaire can be accessed at http://www.apostolicvisitation.org/en/materials/index.html.

⁷ Paul writes to the bishops and deacons at Philippi (Phil. 1:1), and diaconal characteristics and requirements are mentioned (1 Tim 3:8 and 1 Tim 3:10) twice.

⁸ Later studies came forth from LCWR, including Anne Munley et al., Women and Jurisdiction: An Unfolding Reality (2001), and Anne Munley, Study of the Ministries of US Women Religious (2002).

⁹ Schneiders, Sandra, Selling All: Consecrated Celibacy, and Community in Catholic Religious Life (Religious Life in a New Millennium, V. 2), (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2001), p. 380.Google Scholar

¹⁰ The term probably originated with Sandra Schneiders, whose two volumes on religious life for women examine the concept in great detail. Schneiders recommends a religious have a master of divinity degree, “the degree required for ordained ministry in virtually all mainstream Christian denominations in the United States today” before profession. Schneiders, Selling All, 58. The M.Div. is ordinary for priest-candidates, but not for deacons.

¹¹ See for example, the case of Sinsinawa Dominican Sister Donna Quinn, whose superiors stated publicly: “After investigating the allegation, Congregation leaders have informed Sr. Donna that her actions are in violation of her profession as a Dominican religious. They regret that her actions have created controversy and resulted in public scandal.” ChicagoCatholicNews.com, 4 November 2009. http://www.chicagocatholicnews.com/2009/11/new-religious-order-acts-on-nun-who.html (accessed 7 November 2010).

¹² 118. For this reason, distinction must be born in mind between, on the one hand, the area that is devoted to scientific investigation and on the other the area that concerns the teaching of the faithful. In the first, experts enjoy the freedom required by their work and are free to communicate to others in books and commentaries the fruits of their research. In the second, only those doctrines may be attributed to the Church which are declared to be such by her authentic Magisterium. These last, obviously, can be aired in public without fear of giving scandal. It sometimes happens, however, because of the very nature of social communication that new opinions circulating among theologians, at times, circulate too soon and in the wrong places. Such opinions, which must not be confused with the authentic doctrine of the Church, should be examined critically. It must also be remembered that the real significance of such theories is often badly distorted by popularization and by the style of presentation used in the media. Pastoral Instruction on the Means of Social Communication, Communio et progressio (29 January 1971), Flannery, Austin OP, ed., Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents, Vol. 1 (Northport, NY: Costello Publishing Company, 1975, 1996), pp. 331–2Google Scholar.

¹³ The New York Times, 7 October 1984, E-7. Sister Donna Quinn, OP, noted above, was one signer.

¹⁴ See Ferraro, Barbara and Hussey, Patricia, No Turning Back, (NY: Ivy Books, 1992)Google Scholar.

¹⁵ The Apostolic Visitation website lists the following documents: Paul VI, Apostolic exhortation, Evangelica testificatio: on the renewal of the religious life according to the teaching of the Second Vatican Council (29 June 1971); John Paul II, Apostolic exhortation Redemptionis donum: on their consecration in the light of the mystery of redemption (25 March 1984); John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic exhortation, Vita consecrata: on the consecrated life and its mission in the church and in the world (25 March 1996) and selected quotations from Pope Benedict XVI on consecrated life.

¹⁶ The total list compiled by the Apostolic Visitation is quite probably long and varied, and includes some women and men religious who have attracted curial attention through their work, including Sandra M. Schneiders, IHM, Margaret Farley, RSM, and Michael Crosby, OFM. By way of contrast, keynote speakers at LCWR annual assemblies since 2004 were: M. Shawn Copeland and Richard Gaillardetz (2010); Cokie Roberts (2009); Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ (2008); Laurie Brink, OP (2007); Joan Chittester, OSB (2006); Margaret Brennan, IHM and Maria Cimperman, OSU (2005); Dr. Mary Robinson (2004).

¹⁷ At Boston University, Yale Divinity School, St. Michael's College, VT, and St. Leo University, FL.

¹⁸ A recent study conducted in Poland concludes “Religious habit makes a nun in the sense that it both embodies and represents the abstract basis for her religious identity.” Marta Trzebiatowska, “Habit Does Not a Nun Make? Religious Dress in the Everyday Lives of Polish Catholic Nuns” Journal of Contemporary Religion, 25:1 (January 2010), pp. 51–65. The European notion of “nun” appears pervasive in the documentation and application of the principals of the Apostolic Visitation.

¹⁹ For example, from 1971 to 1999 the number of US deacons rose from 7 to 12,862. See “A Research Report by the Bishop's Committee on the Diaconate and by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate” (June 2000). http://cara.georgetown.edu/pdfs/PermanentDiaconate.PDF. The most recent CARA statistics cite The Official Catholic Directory for 2008, which counts 15,396 deacons in the 195 diocese and eparchies whose bishops belong to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

²⁰ Ditewig, William T., The Emerging Diaconate: Servant Leaders in a Servant Church, (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2007)Google Scholar; Hughes, Alfred, Campbell, Frederick F., Ditewig, William T., Kennedy, Michael, Cummings, Owen F., Jewell, Marti R., Today's Deacon: Contemporary Issues and Cross-Currents, (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2006)Google Scholar; Cummings, Owen F., Ditewig, William T., Gaillardetz, Richard F., Theology of the Diaconate: The State of the Question (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2005)Google Scholar.

²¹ This is pointed out by Hughes, Kathleen, “The Apostolic Visitation: An Invitation to Intercultural Dialogue” Review for Religious, 69:1 (2010), pp. 16–30, at 29Google Scholar.

²² See Ditewig, The Emerging Diaconate, pp. 30–32.

²³ Bendyna, Mary E. RSM and Gautier, Mary L.. Recent Vocations to Religious Life: A Report for the National Religious Vocation Conference. (Washington, DC: Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, 2009) p. 28Google Scholar.

²⁴ Wittberg, Patricia, “Opening a New Window: Fifteen Years after the FORUS Study” Review for Religious (68:4) 2009 364–378Google Scholar.

²⁵ However, Can. 635 §1 defines the temporal goods of religious institutes as ecclesiastical goods governed by further provisions of Canon Law where there is no express provision to the contrary. Can. 1274 §2 directs epsicopal conferences to ensure the social security of the clergy, but there is no similar provision for religious.