Vatican Picks Bishop Blair to Direct Inquiry Into Nun Organization's Adherence to Catholic Doctrine

In The Toledo Blade, we find another story about Bishop Blair:

The Vatican has picked Bishop Leonard Blair of Toledo to lead a doctrinal investigation into the nation's largest organization of nuns.

The inquiry will look at adherence to Catholic doctrine by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, an organization based in Silver Springs, Md., with 1,500 nuns in leadership positions representing 95 percent of the nation's 67,000 Catholic sisters.

Virtually all nuns' communities in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan belong to the group.

Bishop Blair is a member of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' committee on doctrine and helped conduct evaluations of American seminaries for the Vatican in 2005 and 2006.

The Toledo diocese issued a statement yesterday on behalf of Bishop Blair, who had just returned from Rome.

"Bishop Blair has been asked by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to conduct a doctrinal assessment, which will have as its principal purpose to review the work of the LCWR in supporting its membership as communities of faith and witness to Christ in today's church, and to offer any useful assistance. Bishop Blair has been in contact with the leadership of the LCWR, and has nothing further to add at this time."

Some Vatican observers said the selection of the bishop, 60, shows he is highly regarded in Rome.

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The National Catholic Reporter, an independent U.S. Catholic newspaper, reported Cardinal Levada cited three areas of concern: promoting the ordination of women, salvation through Christ alone, and "the problem of homosexuality."

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