The Visitators are coming!! The Visitators are coming!!

Two somewhat related stories caught my attention this morning. The first was NPR's Morning Edition story about American Women Religious reacting with suspicion in light of the apostolic visitation of the 340 religious communities that had been announced in December, 2008. The story also addressed a request from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith asking the Leadership Conference of Women Religious to clarify its stand on three doctrinal issues: that only men can be priests; that homosexual practice should not be sanctioned; and that the Catholic Church provides the way to salvation. (Their discomfort reminds me of a bumper sticker that read, "Jesus is coming... look busy!")
The second item was the story from Zenit reporting that vocations in the United States are attracted to traditional religious orders whose members tend to live and pray in community and "...wear a religious habit, work together in common apostolates, and are explicit about their fidelity to the Church and the teachings of the Magisterium."
Putting it into terms that are not particularly helpful but commonly used, the liberals are nervous, but it is the conservative orders that are growing. While one group sees a threat to the "spirit of Vatican II", the other finds strength in faithfulness to the Church.
I fully expect the secular media to cast a negative light on the apostolic visitation, to avoid stories on the growing orders which are more likely to welcome the visitation and to make interminable references to the Inquisition (which is maligned for its false portrayal of as part of the "Black Legend", but which in fact was welcomed by much of the populace and saved perhaps millions of people from arbitrary summary judgment by secular authorities). However, as was the case with the apostolic visitation of the seminaries a couple of years ago, this may well prove to be a wonderful opportunity for self-examination, renewal and improvement on the part of women religious.