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It seems the all-male hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church was aggrieved and threatened simply by the fact that the Leadership Conference of Women Religious had the audacity to include the word "leadership" in the name of a women's organization. The misogyny is that deep and that visceral:

As a citizen of the US, I have a right to vote. However, I do not exercise this right, because I believe that based on the Bible, it is wrong for women to vote.  Based on the Bible, it is wrong for women to exercise authority over men. However, women voting can lead to a passing of laws that the majority of men would oppose. One example of this is abortion - more than 50% of men are against it, but more than 50% of women are for it, which is why it is legal. And yes, having women rulers/politicians is mentioned as a curse in the Bible. I DO NOT support any women politicians. They are way outside the natural role that God intended for them, and as such, are not qualified. 

The Vatican has revealed itself in the current spectacle as more reactionary than conservative. Even the suggestion of discussing progressive takes on dogma is often denounced as heresy. Arguably, moderate and liberal Catholics live in a new reign of terror whose principal players are Bernard Law, disgraced former Boston Cardinal; Cardinal William Levada, Prefect for the Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith; Cardinal Raymond Burke, Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura; and well-placed, movement conservative-friendly bishops and cardinals in cities such as Madison, Wisconsin, New York and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

"I take full responsibility for my own poor judgment, my weakness and my sinful conduct that resulted...[in] one particularly complex situation...[that] led me to imprudent decisions with harmful consequences, the worst of which was violating the boundaries of chastity with an adult female who was under my spiritual care…[w]hile I would much prefer to allow this public act of contrition to stand alone, I regret having to address the malicious falsehoods...[of] every crackpot with a website. --from Father Euteneuer's January 31 confessional statement..." THANKS TO THE "CRACKPOTS"OR WE WOULD NEVER KNOW THE TRUTH....AND WOULD REMAIN LIKE SHEEP WAITING TO BE SLAUGHTERED, BECAUSE THAT IS SO MUCH BETTER THAN CAUSING SCANDAL

Victim Jane Doe: [in the chapel, and about to be touched inappropriately by Fr. Euteneuer] Are you sure this is alright? Fr. Euteneuer: [impatient; looking at the tabernacle and then back at Jane] Well, He would stop me if it wasn't! ------ Finally, when Father began to beg me to remain mum, I started to get the feeling he was mostly concerned with saving his own butt, but just to be sure I played devil's advocate and asked him if he believed there were ever any circumstances that justified a victim's story being made public. "No," Father said definitively. "But what about in the case of the Legion of Christ?" I was trying to think of their defrocked founder's name, but in the end Euteneuer supplied it for me. "Are YOU comparing ME to Marcial Maciel?!#" Euteneuer was instantly and utterly enraged, so much so that I was glad I was speaking with him over the phone and not in person. Eventually he calmed down, gave me his priestly blessing (something I surely did not solicit, and, under the circumstances felt pretty creepy receiving) and signed off.

what might be the primary pastoral obligation of the   men ruling the church in this situation of tension.  And whether the way in which the men ruling the church exercise pastoral leadership might be at the very center of the problem the Vatican and Archbishop Sartain claim they want to address with religious women.  The way the men ruling the church exercise pastoral leadership in contravention of the example of Jesus and the gospels, in the view of growing numbers of Catholics . . . .