Q. Could you please tell me if there are any Anglican nuns in our area? Perhaps there would be convents in some of our larger neighboring cities. I remember many years ago seeing a picture of Queen Elizabeth’s mother-in-law in the habit of an Anglican nun, walking with her son, Prince Philip. I’m certain there are sisters in England belonging to these Church of England religious orders.
— R.C., of Trenton
A. Guess I had never really thought about it before, but it may surprise some to learn that the Roman Catholic Church doesn’t have a lock on convents and monasteries. Monasticism always has been a fixture of the Eastern Orthodox and Buddhism. The Lutherans have a monastery and retreat house in Oxford, Mich.
And, almost since the time that the Episcopal Church planted its Anglican roots in the United States, the church’s monastic communities started springing up around the country.
The questioner is mistaken, the answerer didn’t pay much attention to the mention of Philip’s mother. The Princess Alice was an Orthodox monastic and founded an order of nursing nuns. She is entombed near her aunt the Martyr St. Elizabeth in Jerusalem.
Do we have nuns? Well, ten less this week than last week….
In reading about the All Saints Sisters’ reception into the Roman Catholic Church, I was struck by the fact that they said that they had tried to be a witness to orthodoxy within TEC but had not seemed to have much effect that way. Now, with their leaving, they’ve had all sorts of publicity, and everyone from the [Episcopal] Bishop of Maryland to Susan Russell has had something to say about them. They’ve become a high-profile and dramatic witness to the difficulty of remaining orthodox and faithful within TEC.
http://saintgregorysthreerivers.org is an Anglican Benedictine monastery in SW Michigan, alluded to in the article.
If praying, contemplative, and servant leader kinds of people don’t stand a chance in TEC then who will? Would we want any other kind? WHY have we formed any other kind?
I just love the blithely wizened natures of those who just say…”Farewell…you weren’t with US…or one of US anyway.”
A new order for women, the Daughters of the Holy Cross, DHC, is being organized in the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin. For information, go online to the August edition of the San Joaquin Star, which is on our website.