Pat Farrell, OSF, said these words as part of an address to the LCWR (the full speech is well worth a read):
The vocation of religious life is prophetic and charismatic by nature, offering an alternate lifestyle to that of the dominant culture. The call of Vatican II, which we so conscientiously heeded, urged us to respond to the signs of our times. For fifty years women religious in the United States have been trying to do so, to be a prophetic voice. There is no guarantee, however, that simply by virtue of our vocation we can be prophetic. Prophecy is both God’s gift as well as the product of rigorous asceticism. Our rootedness in God needs to be deep enough and our read on reality clear enough for us to be a voice of conscience.
It is usually easy to recognize the prophetic voice when it is authentic. It has the freshness and freedom of the Gospel: open, and favoring the disenfranchised. The prophetic voice dares the truth. We can often hear in it a questioning of established power, and an uncovering of human pain and unmet need. It challenges structures that exclude some and benefit others. The prophetic voice urges action and a choice for change.
Considering again the large and small shifts of our time, what would a prophetic response to the doctrinal assessment look like? I think it would be humble, but not submissive; rooted in a solid sense of ourselves, but not self-righteous; truthful, but gentle and absolutely fearless. It would ask probing questions. Are we being invited to some appropriate pruning, and would we open to it? Is this doctrinal assessment process an expression of concern or an attempt to control? Concern is based in love and invites unity. Control through fear and intimidation would be an abuse of power. Does the institutional legitimacy of canonical recognition empower us to live prophetically? Does it allow us the freedom to question with informed consciences? Does it really welcome feedback in a Church that claims to honor the sensus fidelium, the sense of the faithful?
Occupy, Catholics! 
Thanks for sharing this excerpt from Sr. Pat Farrell’s address. I will definitely check out the rest. The question at heading of this post – “The Sister’s are standing there ground, are you?” is a good one. I have been very heartened by the prayer and support for LCWR as they face this challenge from the Vatican, yet I also wonder if the laity who have come out in support have reflected enough on what this moment means for the Church, the people of God, as a whole. Is this a galvenizing moment for the Church reform movement in the United States? Will the organizing, proresting, and vigiling that has taken place lead to a more unified, wide-scale, and collective movement that reaches more of the people in the pews who may not be as aware of the multiple crises our Church faces today and what we can do now to change it? I was struck at the St. Patrick’s NYC vigil the other day, how we all wrote messages to the bishops and attached them to flowers, which after the vigil, were placed on the steps of the Cathedral. Less than five minutes after doing so, the same security guards who interrupted our prayer to ensure we did not stand on the steps, heaped the prayerful and prophetic messages into garbage bags and walked away. I thought to myself how the symbolic gesture was lost and we didn’t get our messages anywhere near the bishops or even to all the people inside the Cathedral. We could have processed into the Cathedral, one by one, spread out into different pews, and left them there or handed them to other people inside praying. We could have boxed them and had them mailed/delivered to the Archidocesan offices or the Bishop’s office. Basically, I guess it made me think are we doing the action/reflection and strategic organizing that we could be doing in a moment like this to build the momentum of a larger movement, or are we just coming out in support of the sisters, prayefully waiting and watching to see what happens in their stand off with the Vatican. I guess my question is: Is this a larger moment, are we seeing it, and could we be doing more right now?