The Vatican is quietly conducting two sweeping investigations of American nuns, a development that has startled and dismayed nuns who fear they are the targets of a doctrinal inquisition.
Nuns were the often-unsung workers who helped build the Roman Catholic Church in the United States, planting schools and hospitals and keeping parishes humming. But for the last three decades, their numbers have been declining — to 60,000 today from 180,000 in 1965.
In that period, many American nuns stopped wearing their religious habits, left their convents to live independently and went into new lines of work: academia and other professions, social and political advocacy and grass-roots organizations that serve the poor or promote spirituality. A few nuns have also been active in organizations that advocate changes in the church like ordaining women and allowing married men to be priests.
The more extensive of the two investigations is called an "Apostolic Visitation," and will "look into the quality of the life" of women's religious institutes. The visitation is being conducted by Mother Mary Clare Millea, an American who lives in Rome.
The investigation was ordered by Cardinal Franc Rode, head of the Vatican office that deals with religious orders. Last year, Rode criticized American nuns "who have opted for ways that take them outside" the church.
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