Nuns on the Run

The 1980s comedy worked only because the robbers actually dressed as nuns...

Both Sister Act and Nuns on the Run, the lesser known 1980s comedy worked as nun-based musicals or comedies because the characters dressed distinctively as nuns.

Yet, people dressing up as a nun nowadays appears to be more common at stag parties and hen nights than in convents. Many nuns have outgrown their habits and fallen into new ones.

Well, you can imagine that there are nuns out there either going into hiding or dusting off their wimples in the attic in case there is some kind of inspection of the convent because the times 'they are a-changin'.

Meanwhile, great supporters of nuns who openly disagree with doctrine and tenets of the Catholic Faith, like The Tablet, are speaking up in defence of those poor sisters whose only crime was to move 'beyond Jesus'.

Professor Margaret Susan Thompson, writing for The Tablet's blog says that support for the renegade nuns is 'overwhelming'. It certainly is in The Tablet's office and perhaps, to a point, support for dissenting nuns is 'overwhelming' in parts of the Church which believe that the Second Vatican Council called for the Church's members to distance themselves from Catholicism. Professor Thompson reports on the recent investigation into 'the orthodoxy of the US's Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) and the "visitation" of active congregations of US sisters'...

'Although carried out entirely in secret, its outcome was made public on Wednesday, 18 April, when it was announced that a three-man committee of bishops, chaired by Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle, Washington, has been appointed to "oversee" and "reform" its operation.'

The key phrase there is that this investigation was led by a committee of Bishops. Guess what! Those Bishops were men! A secretive three-man patriarchical power grab over women has taken place and they're working from Seattle! Sisters! Rise up! Just going by the tone of The Tablet's writer, you get the sense that the movements taking place within the Church, as She calls to account those Catholic orders and religious that refuse to recognise dissent for what it is, or who aim to move 'beyond Catholicism', are getting some people rather worried.

Perhaps, The Tablet are a little concerned that one day they may come in for some serious investigation themselves. By that time, of course, the 'overwhelming' support for The Tablet which they could rely on in bygone times will have dwindled somewhat. Who would mind if The Tablet disappeared or lost its claim to be a 'Catholic weekly'? Re-defining Catholicism has been The Tablet's big idea for a long while now. Now, however, that the Catholic definition is being defined - re-presented - by Rome, assertively and authoritatively, the Tablet board must be wondering when it will be their turn for some close inspection.

Another Tablet blogger, Fr Kevin Hegarty complains that the investigation into the LCWR is an indication that the Church is becoming a cold place to be for liberal Catholics. Hmm...that's because, Father, someone, somewhere has worked out where the heating switch is, having gained access to the boiler room. It had to happen sooner or later. There's only one answer: Send pullovers to liberals.