Sr Joan Chittister Muzzled in New Zealand

From CathNews.com, 7.5.2007.

No amnesty in NZ for outspoken US nun


Christchurch Bishop Barry Jones says that he cannot allow US Benedictine nun Sr Joan Chittister, who will also visit Australia this month, to speak in his diocese over concerns about her stance on women's ordination and life issues.

Stuff.co.nz reports that Bishop Jones has written to priests saying that next week's visit by Benedictine nun Sister Joan Chittister is unauthorised.

Permission for the event had not been sought or given, and Jones did not want it promoted through Catholic churches.

"The point is that silence generates the misunderstanding that this is all approved, when it's not. I have made my position clear to the priests," he said.

Chittister, from Eire, Pennsylvania, has clashed with church authorities internationally over her strong stance on issues such as women's ordination and contraception.

She attended the first Women's Ordination Worldwide Conference in 2000, defying an order by the Vatican.

An independent group of Catholic lay people, the Adult Education Trust, has invited Chittister to Christchurch.

She will speak about spirituality, culture, justice and "God, women and the world".

Jones opposed the visit because he said Chittister did not agree with the Catholic Church's teachings.

"I don't see how I, as a bishop, can advance the teachings of the Catholic Church by appearing to condone other views," he said.

High-profile Sister Pauline O'Regan, of the Sisters of Mercy, backs Chittister's visit and was surprised by Jones's stance.

"It sort of sounds like censorship, doesn't it?" O'Regan said. "I think she has a very loving attitude towards challenging the church in matters where it needs to look at itself. She should not be feared. She's a very, very spiritual woman."

O'Regan and her colleagues had studied Chittister's more than 30 books and knew her teachings well.

"Sure, she challenges various things within the church, but then so do a great number of other people. Jesus challenged the leaders of his religious era," said O'Regan.

"It makes me wonder if he (Jones) has read her books and articles that she has written. In my opinion, people have the capacity to judge for themselves."

However, a pro-life US news service, Lifesite, said that Sr Chittister had "garnered a well-earned reputation as a vociferous advocate of contraception, abortion, and homosexuality", and had "lambasted the Church's teachings on the latter as 'spiritual violence and abuse'".