The silence of American Catholic sisters is deafening.

The discipline that surrounds their silence is profound.

They were slapped hard by the Vatican’s Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith in April for being too invested in social justice and the poor. And for not being sufficiently obsessed — as the bishops clearly are — with contraception, abortion and homosexuality.

The nuns are reeling. The Holy See has decreed that the men of the church will now oversee the so-called “radical feminist” sisters, most of whom are 60 or older.

The Vatican named three bishops, including Illinois’ Thomas Paprocki, to police the Leadership Council of Women Religious, the influential umbrella organization of most sisters. And to try, I guess, to make the nuns sit a little straighter in their chairs.

It is insulting.

Contemptuous.

Read more:http://www.suntimes.com/news/marin/12773866-452/the-silence-of-the-nuns.html