NUN JUSTICE PROJECT: SAMPLE LETTER AND ADDRESSES

NOTE! When writing letters please be respectful, brief, and clear. Give personal examples and adapt language below to suit your own style. Form letters or letters with multiple signatures are not as effective as brief handwritten or typed letters from individuals. Volume matters. The Apostolic Nuncio is basically a hotline to the Pope. In some troubled dioceses, a high volume of letters to the Nuncio resulted in Vatican intervention. One-page, one-side is the best format. Be sure to indicate the name of your parish.

Postage to Rome is $1.05 for copies to relevant Vatican offices (see addresses list below)

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò Apostolic Nuncio, Apostolic Nunciature, 3339 Massachusetts Avenue NW Washington, DC 20008-3610

Dear Archbishop Viganò,

I/We write to ask you to intervene in Rome on behalf of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and the tens of thousands of U.S. nuns whom they serve. Specifically, I/we request that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith revoke its mandate to control all of the internal operations of the Leadership Conference.

I/We are appalled by the Congregation’s demeaning treatment of these faithful leaders of women religious who are so widely respected throughout the United States.

I/We are deeply ashamed that our Church would choose to exercise authority in the sisters’ regard in a way that can only be described as abusive.

Women, and those who love them, find it hard enough to remain Catholic in a Church that neither values their ministerial gifts nor permits them to participate in governance. For our Church to persecute women whose only crime is to speak truthfully about real problems and challenges in the Church and in the world is completely intolerable.

I/We realize that you are the Pope’s eyes and ears in the United States. Please assure the Holy Father that I/we draw this egregious mistake to his attention out of great love for the Catholic Church in the United States. All of us who are members of Voice of the Faithful believe women religious have made U.S. Catholicism what it is today. They deserve the Vatican’s praise and support, not castigation.

I/We trust you will register our concerns with the appropriate authorities in Rome.

Sincerely yours,

P.S. The courtesy of your reply is greatly appreciated.

Cc: João Cardinal Bráz de Aviz Archbishop Joseph William Tobin Archbishop J. Peter Sartain Timothy Cardinal Dolan Contact Information for Mailing Letters and Copies

The Most Reverend Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, Apostolic Nuncio, Apostolic Nunciature, 3339 Massachusetts Avenue NW Washington, DC 20008-3610 Telephone: (202)333-7121 Fax: (202) 337-4036

João Cardinal Bráz de Aviz Prefect, Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life & Societies of Apostolic Life Palazzo della Congregazioni, Piazza Pio XII, 3 00193 Roma Italy Telephone: 06.69.89.25.11; 06.69.88.41.28 Fax: 06.69.88.45.26 E-mail: [email protected] (Prefect) [email protected] (information)

Archbishop Joseph William Tobin Archbishop Designate of Indianapolis 1400 North Meridian St. Indianapolis, IN 46202 Telephone: (317) 236-1400

Timothy Cardinal Dolan Cardinal of New York President, US Conference of Catholic Bishops 3211 Fourth Street, N.E. Washington, D.C. 20017 [alternate address:] 1011 First Avenue New York, NY 10022

Archbishop J. Peter Sartain 710 9th Avenue Seattle, WA 98104 Telephone: (206) 382-4560