Press Releases

For immediate release

For immediate release

Statement of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious on the Election of Pope Benedict XVI

 [Silver Spring, Maryland] The Leadership Conference of Women Religious offers its prayer and blessings for the new pope as he assumes the leadership of the Catholic Church. We hope that like his predecessor, he will be a courageous advocate for peace, an unwavering champion of the oppressed and an untiring voice for the protection of the rights of all persons.

(Rome, Italy) The Leadership Conference of Women Religious and the Conference of Major Superiors of Men express sorrow at the death of Pope John Paul II. His untiring service to the Catholic Church and the world will long be appreciated.

Statement of Catholic Women Religious Leaders Regarding the Murder of Sister Dorothy Stang, SNDdeN

 [Silver Spring, MD – Feb. 16, 2005] The Leadership Conference of Women Religious  (LCWR) issued a statement today calling on the world community to exert its influence to protest the brutal death of Sister Dorothy Stang,SNDdeN and to advocate for the persons and causes to which she gave her life.

LCWR Responses to Allegations of Member Sexual Misconduct

LCWR Responses to Allegations of Member Sexual Misconduct

Statement of the Officers of LCWR Regarding SNAP October 3 Requests

(Officers: Christine Vladimiroff, OSB, President; Beatrice Eichten, OSF, Vice President; Constance Phelps, SL, Past President; Carole Shinnick, SSND, Executive Director)

Human Security Threatened Worldwide, Former President Tells Religious Leaders

 Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, warned that “Governments in different regions of the world are failing to provide even the rudiments of human security,” in her keynote address to the leaders of Catholic religious orders in the United States.

Former UN High Commissioner of Human Rights to Address National Conferences of Religious Men and Women

Response of LCWR President Sister Constance Phelps, SCL 
to 
SNAP Request  

I am writing to add the voice of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) to those who are expressing concern with your choice to run a cartoon in your March 9, 2004 edition that portrayed Catholic sisters in a way that we find disrespectful and offensive.

Religious Leaders from United States Call for Reversal of US Landmine Policy

Washington, DC (March 11, 2004) – The leadership of the Catholic women and men religious of the Americas have called upon government leaders to restore order to Haiti by committing themselves to long term reconstruction plans that respect the independence and autonomy of the Haitian people, their culture, their values and their social traditions.

 The leadership of the Catholic religious sisters, brothers, and priests in the United States, England and Wales have joined an Amnesty International effort to urge British Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.S. President George Bush to take decisive steps to ensure that reconstruction efforts in Iraq are carried out for the benefit of the Iraqi people and will ensure the protection of human rights in Iraq.  In addition, the leaders, representing over 100,000 members of Catholic religious congregations call on the government leaders to reduce the number of U.S.

 (Silver Spring, MD) The Leadership Conference of Women Religious recently issued a statement to President George Bush, members of his Cabinet and members of Congress decrying the continuing tragic loss of life in Iraq.

“We mourn the deaths of Iraqi children, women and men, military personnel and civilians of all countries involved in the ongoing conflict, as well as those who lost their lives in the recent attack on the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad,” the statement reads. “We also grieve the devastating impact on a beautiful land and ancient culture.

Catholic Religious Leaders Address Ecological Problems

(Detroit, Michigan – August 25, 2003)  At a critical moment for the ecological future of the planet, more than 900 leaders of communities of Catholic women religious recently explored the potential they have to help chart a new shift in thinking and living on the earth.

Bill Smith’s article entitled “Nuns as Sexual Victims Get Little Notice,” published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of Sunday, January 5, 2003, and carried in other newspapers throughout the country, was based on a study done by three St.

Leaders of Catholic Religious Congregations Return from Middle East and Call for Establishment of a Palestinian Homeland and End of Israel’s “Injustice of Occupation”
 

 LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE OF WOMEN RELIGIOUS RELEASES PUBLIC STATEMENT CONCERNING “CRISIS OF ALLEGATIONS OF CLERICAL ABUSE”

 (Silver Spring, MD) April 5, 2002 – The following is a public statement issued by the Executive Committee of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR).

 As women religious leaders who are an integral part of our church and society, we, the Executive Committee of LCWR, are deeply troubled by the current escalating crisis of allegations of clerical abuse. 

 Women In Major Decision-Making Roles for Catholic Church: Ground-Breaking Study Results Released on International Women’s Day

We, members of the National Boards of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) and the Conference of Major Superiors of Men (CMSM), at our annual joint meeting onFebruary 20, 2002, join our sisters and brothers who seek a path of peace and justice at this difficult moment of history.

Dear Frank and Staff of New Ways Ministry:

 In the spirit of lived eucharistic communion, we members of the national board of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious wish to express our gratitude to you and your staff for your compassionate presence in ministry to our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters in the Church.  We recall the words of our bishops in their pastoral letter, “Always Our Children,” affirming that all are children of one God.