On Thursday, a community of Episcopal nuns and their chaplain will be received into the Catholic Church by the archbishop of Baltimore.
Ten sisters from the Society of All Saints’ Sisters of the Poor will be received into the Church by Archbishop Edwin O’Brien, along with Episcopal Father Warren Tange, the Baltimore archdiocesan newspaper reported last Thursday.
Having spent seven years in prayer and discernment, the sisters felt drawn to the Catholic faith due to its orthodoxy and unity.
The superior of the community in Catonsville, Mother Christina Christie, affirmed that after studying Catholic teaching for two years, the sisters are “very excited” for their upcoming reception.
Just a quick note to my Episcopalian friends: While it may not seem fair that we receive these 10 nuns without any payment, rest assured that after the apostolic visitation is done, you’ll see that many Catholic nuns are really Episcopalians. Fair enough?
Your pal,
Saint Jimbob
P.S. Keep those orthodox christians coming.
Will Ms Schori attempt to sue for repossession of the convent’s property?
She may make an ‘exception’ in this case. If she did try to sue, the first reaction of the Roman Church may be, to say “Katherine who?”
The second reaction may be to ‘steam-roller’ Ms Schori and the other ECUSA revisionists with legal and political resources that would absorb a whole lot of money from ECUSA’s coffers.
The good sisters are reaching out just as orthodox Episcopalians have reached out. Will the Bishop of Rome be chastized as a border crossing Bishop too?
All levity aside, this is a very significant sign of the times. The sisters of All Saints, Catonsville, are almost universally admired. And Fr. Tange, their spiritual director, is also widely respected, and rightly so.
I have a dear friend here in Virginia, a conservative Anglican laywoman, who has been going on retreats there ever since she was a teenager. For her, as for so many, All Saints Convent is holy ground. I’m sure she will continue to go there after the realignment takes place. And the sisters will undoubtedly continue to welcome her gladly as another earnest fellow Christian.
Ironically, as #1 implies, the sisters in Catonsville, who still wear traditional habits, are probably considerably more conservative theologically than many American Catholic nuns today. As has often been noted by many observers, TEC tends to run a big trade deficit with Rome. The Episcopal Church loses a lot of its best, most devout, committed, and orthodox members to the Catholic Church, while the latter sends TEC a lot of liberal slackers. Sad, but true.
Particularly impressive to me is the slow, methodical process by which the All Saints sisters came to their conclusion to seek full communion with the Roman Catholic Church and the See of Peter. I hope that someday they’ll write up the story of how and why they made that important move and share it with the world.
God bless them.
David Handy+
A terrible and tragic loss for those of us in TEC. The Anglican crown continues to tarnish and now, one of her most beautiful jewels, leaves an empty setting and a gaping wound. Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy.
Can we do a trade like they do in baseball and most other pro-sports? We Catholics now have some real classy orthodox touchdown throwing nuns. (Thank You Anglicans). Now can we send over a group of secular besotted religious order ball fumblers ????(Unfortunately, they are already head injured from not wearing typical religious order head gear–sorry about that)?
The All Saints Sisters go to Rome and TEC gets Fr. Cutie. Signs of the times indeed.
>>Two nuns who decided not to become Catholic will nonetheless continue to live with the community and work together with their religious sisters.
I am wondering if this will turn out to be a good way around the usual property issues? These two can claim, technically, that the convent is still Episcopal, and the other sisters are just staying there and helping out.
Property owned by Religious Orders is independent of the diocese as are all internal functions. Their relationship with TEC is canonically different than that of dioceses and churches. The Sisters and their property are beyond the purview of TEC’s grasp.
To me, what is most telling is this:
Sister Mary Joan Walker, said, “We kept thinking we could help by being a witness for orthodoxy.”
The superior explained, however, that the effort was “not as helpful as we had hoped it would be.”
She continued: “People who did not know us looked at us as if we were in agreement with what had been going on [in the Episcopal church]; by staying put and not doing anything, we were sending a message which was not correct.”
Diocese of South Carolina, take note!