Nuns meet to decide next step

ST. LOUIS, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- A group of American nuns will huddle in St. Louis this week, saying they must decide whether they will bow to Vatican demands.

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious, a group of some 1,500 sisters with liberal leanings, are faced with Vatican efforts to put them under control, the Detroit Free Press reported.

The group, which began its meeting Tuesday, was censured by the Vatican in April for "radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith."

It says the nuns' views on abortion, gay marriage and women priests are incompatible with church teachings.

The Vatican has made Toledo, Ohio, bishop The Most Rev. Leonard Blair and two other senior prelates responsible for the LCWR's printed and public announcements, as well as awards and speakers.

Blair led a three-year investigation into the progressive group. He has said he respects the nuns, but that they need oversight.

Not all nuns support the LCWR. Mother Jane Mary Firestone, a physician and member of the Religious Sisters of Mercy in Alma, told the Free Press: "I think that there's a lot of heartbreak right now. But I think the bishops are doing what a bishop should do."

Her order supports the Vatican's position.