Joan Chittister

Sister Joan D. Chittister, OSB, (born 26 April 1936) is a controversial Benedictine nun and an international lecturer.

In her more than 50 years as a nun she has authored 40 books, including recent books such as: "Welcome to the Wisdom of the World"; "The Ten Commandments", "Laws of the Heart"; "The Tent of Abraham - Stories of Hope and Peace for Jews, Christians and Muslims"; "In Search of Belief"; "Called to Question"; and "The Friendship of Women: The Hidden Tradition of the Bible". She has won eight Catholic Press Association Awardsincluding a First Place award in 2008 for "Welcome to the Wisdom of the World." Her latest book, "The Gift of Years" was released in April 2008.

She writes a weekly web column for the "National Catholic Reporter" called "From Where I Stand".

In 2007, Sr. Joan appeared at the "First Emory Summit of Religion, Conflict and Peacebuilding" at Emory University as a responder to the Dalai Lama. She also spoke in Spain, Scotland, and was on a two-week lecture tour in New Zealand and Australia. In 2006 she was an invited panelist on "Meet the Press" with Tim Russert. In 2004, she was a guest on "Now with Bill Moyers" and during the funeral of Pope John Paul II and in April 2005 she was a commentator for the BBC from Rome for the election of Pope Benedict XVI as John Paul II's successor.

She is a member of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, Pennsylvania, where she served as prioress of the community for 12 years. Sister Joan is the founder and current executive director of Benetvision, a resource and research center for contemporary spirituality that is also located in Erie. She is co-chair of the Global Peace Initiative of Women, a UN-sponsored organization of women faith leaders, working for peace, especially in the Middle East.

Sister Chittister earned her masters degree from the University of Notre Dame and her doctorate in speech-communication theory from Penn State University. She also served a year as an invited-fellow at Cambridge University.

In 2007, Chittister received the Hans Küng Award from the ARCC and the Outstanding Leadership Award from the LCWR. She has also received eleven honorary doctorates and numerous awards, including the "US Catholic" magazine award for Furthering the Cause of Women in the Church, the Thomas Merton Award by the Merton Center, the Distinguished Alumni Award from Penn State University, and the Thomas Dooley Award from the alumni association of the University of Notre Dame.

Criticisms

Critics cite her association with Call to Action and women's ordination, both in direct conflict with official Catholic teaching.

Chittister has clashed with the Church authorities on several occasions. She attended the first Women's Ordination Worldwide Conference of June 30 2000 as one of two nuns instructed by the Holy See not to do so. In another instance, Chittister rejected the Church's strictures against the 23 nuns who ran an advertisement in the "New York Times" attacking the Church's teaching on abortion.

The Benedictine Sisters of Erie, Pennsylvania's homepage has received a "danger!" rating on fidelity from the website CatholicCulture.org, a private organization not endorsed that rates the web pages of various Catholic organizations for orthodoxy and fidelity to Catholic teaching. Criticisms include its alleged New Age content, and a note on the actions taken by Sister Christine Vladimiroff, Chittister's prioress, against the Vatican directive related to Chittister's attendance at the Ordination Conference in 2000. [ [http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/reviews/view.cfm?recnum=1836&repos=2&subrepos=&searchid=287297 Catholic Culture's review of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie website] ]

References

External links

* [http://eriebenedictines.org/ The Benedictine Sisters of Erie website]
*worldcat id|id=lccn-n83-176564
* [http://catholicinsight.com/online/feminism/article_246.shtml 'Joan Chittister disloyalty as obedience'; a Catholic Insight periodical article outlining Sister Joan's conflict with the Vatican regarding abortion and women's ordination]
* [http://www.catholicculture.org/docs/doc_view.cfm?recnum=4090 'Pope Joan?'; an article originally published in Women For Faith & Family outlining Sister Joan's dissident theology]
* [http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_22051994_ordinatio-sacerdotalis_en.html "Ordinatio Sacerdotalis": the Papal Encyclical of Pope John Paul II which declared, "...the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women"]
* [http://www.cta-usa.org/conference2006/plenaryspeakers.html Sister Joan as a speaker for Call to Action]