Ken Briggs, who writes regularly on this site, offered some opinions to Maureen Dowd, whose regular column appeared in today's New York Times.
Said Briggs: Nuns who took Vatican II as a mandate for reimagining their mission “started to look uppity to an awful lot of bishops and priests and, of course, the Vatican.”
Dowd spoke to Briggs in the context the women religious "inquisitions," linking them with last week's announcement by Pope Benedict to provide Roman Catholic shelter to Anglicans upset with their church's acceptance of women and gay clergy.
Added Briggs: “Most of the Anglicans who want to move over to the Catholic church under this deal are people who have scorned women as priests and have scorned gay people ... The Vatican doesn’t care that these people are motivated by disdain.”
Briggs is the author of “Double Crossed: Uncovering the Catholic Church’s Betrayal of American Nuns.” He is unique as a writer in that while he is "outside" the Catholic flock he has for years maintained a keen interest and understanding of matters Catholic.