A 'Beyond the Veil' Look at American Nuns Launched By Vatican

Mother Mary Clare Millea has been appointed by the Vatican to study the activities of some orders of nuns in the United States.The NYTimes reports this morning that the Vatican is quietly conducting two sweeping investigations of American nuns, a development that has startled and dismayed nuns who fear they are the targets of a doctrinal inquisition.

American nuns have modernized their daily lives in many ways. Many American nuns stopped wearing religious habits, left convents to live independently and went into new lines of work: academia and other professions, social and political advocacy and grass-roots organizations that serve the poor or promote spirituality. A few nuns have also been active in organizations that advocate changes in the church like ordaining women and married men as priests.