Hundreds march for nuns in Seattle
Aug 13, 2012, 5:32 AM | Updated: 9:35 am
The Rev. Joshua Liljenstolpe, right, holds a flower as hundreds of people gather on the steps of Saint James Cathedral in Seattle on Sunday, Aug. 12, 2012. Hundreds of people came out to support Catholic nuns on the steps of Saint James Cathedral, the episcopal seat of Archbishop Peter J. Sartain, the Roman Catholic bishop tasked by the Vatican to oversee nuns in the U.S. (AP Photo/seattlepi.com, Joshua Trujillo)
(AP Photo/seattlepi.com, Joshua Trujillo)
Several hundred people marched in Seattle on Sunday to show support for nuns who were recently rebuked by the Catholic Church for promoting “radical feminist themes.”
Marchers carried flowers and sang hymns on their walk from Capitol Hill to St. James Cathedral, the seat of the Archdiocese of Seattle.
The Leadership Conference of Women Religious represents about 80 percent of the 57,000 Roman Catholic nuns in the U.S. A recent Vatican report labeled them dissenters who undermine Catholic teaching on all-male priesthood, birth control, and homosexuality.
Seattle Archbishop Peter Sartain has been appointed, along with two other American bishops, to oversee rewriting the groups’ statutes, reviewing its plans and programs, and ensuring the group properly follows Catholic ritual.
March organizer Gretchen Gundrum says that the march was to support the sisters and send a message because Rome’s action against the nuns seems “unfair and misguided.”
The LCWR held its national assembly last week in St. Louis and its board met on Saturday with Seattle Archbishop Sartain.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
