I had the pleasure and privilege of meeting Sister Doris Gottemoeller, R.S.M., when Cardinal Bernardin and Monsignor Philip Murnion began the discussions that eventually led to the launching of the Common Ground Initiative. She has been an ardent advocate of the Initiative in the years since, serving on its Board and contributing her time and considerable talents to its undertakings.In the November 23rd issue of America Sister Doris has an article about the Vatican Visitation of Religious Communities of Women that seems to me a model of ecclesial discernment and charity. Here is its conclusion:

In "Vita Consecrata" Pope John Paul II wrote: During these years of renewal, the consecrated life, like other ways of life in the church, has gone through a difficult and trying period. It has been a period full of hopes, new experiments and proposals aimed at giving fresh vigor to the profession of the evangelical counsels. But it has also been a time of tension and struggle, in which well-meaning endeavors have not always met with positive results (No. 13). I have always been struck by the simple wisdom in those words, which apply not only to religious but to the whole people of God. Let us hope that a careful look at the endeavors of the past and their consequences will prompt fresh and wise new initiatives in the future