Vatican orders crackdown on US nun association

The Vatican in Rome has ordered a serious review of the Maryland-based Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), the largest group of Catholic nuns in the United States.

The group, which represents some 57,000 nuns who work in education, health care, social services, parish ministries, religious education and chanceries, the Washington Post report.

The Vatican ordered an investigation of the group in 2008 and today it said it was appointing an American archbishop to oversee a reform of the group.

The Vatican believes that the LCWR challenges the Catholic Church's teaching on homosexuality and promotes "radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith,"as well as pro-abortion and pro-euthanasia positions.

In the the eight-page report, the Vatican also said it concerned about the group's "radical feminism" that "risk distorting faith in Jesus and his loving Father who sent his Son for the salvation of the world."

The Leadership Conference, which says it has more than 1,500 members representing more than 80 percent of the 57,000 women religious in the United States, stated it was "stunned" by the official assessment.

Nick Cafardi, a canon lawyer and former dean of Duqesne Law School, said he has worked over the years with many nuns and that the description in the report does not reflect his experience with them.

Cafardi is an Obama supporter."I don't know any more holy people," Cafardi said of American religious sisters. "I see a lot more holiness in the convents than I see in the chancery."