( Image: "day 128: practising to be a nun…" a Creative Commons licensed photograph from the Flickr stream of user Esthrerase.)

Boing Boing reader Andrea Dickson says,

My local NPR station had this story on Friday afternoon, in which Puget Sound area convents are being investigated by the Vatican, based on what appears to a survey of the nuns' opinions. I think this is a great way for the Catholic Church to follow up on its recent spate of PR brilliance. These nuns work to end human trafficking: heaven forbid they be considered "feminists" or "activists" or somehow less than "obedient."

Snip from the KUOW story:

The Archdiocese of Seattle says the Adrian Dominicans in Woodway, the Renton Sisters of Providence and the Tacoma Dominicans are on the list. Sister Joyce Cox is the Archbishop's Delegate for Religious. She says it's not clear what this latest development — or the entire investigation — means. Cox: "Ordinarily visitations are made because there is something of great concern, or some place of scandal or not having integrity to the origins of our life."



(…) The Seattle-area communities were chosen for visits after investigators reviewed responses to questionnaires sent out to every women's order. The Vatican's 20-page questionnaire asks about the extent of communities' obedience to the Church and their handling of nuns who dissent.