Three nuns have been forced to leave their convent and hand over their habits as the row over defections from The Church of England to Rome becomes increasingly divisive.
The nuns were asked to leave the Priory of Our Lady of Walsingham after revealing they planned to join the Roman Catholic Church.
The Rt Rev Peter Wheatley, the Bishop of Edmonton and Visitor to the house, told the nuns to leave the house they were sharing with four other, older, sisters.
Relations had become strained in the convent following the decision by the younger sisters to join the Ordinariate ”“ the structure set up by Pope Benedict XVI to welcome disillusioned Anglicans into the Catholic fold.
No room at the inn?
Must be Christmas time.
So Kate Schori of him! Now, perhaps, the CoE has learned something from EcUSA/TEc. Next, lawsuits! Have a holly, jolly “inclusive” solstice!
I’m sorry but there is nothing unusual about this what so ever. Certainly the bishop could have decided differently, but within a religious community it is not unusual to dismiss departing members promptly. It is clear that relationships within this community were fractured. The departing member would be expected to leave the habit behind and wear civvies upon leaving. May Christ strengthen the sisters (all of them) as they contemplate their futures.
Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
He ought to have allowed them to remain in community with their sisters. This was uncharitable and therefore wrong.
There seems to be two very different sides to this story. From the article, the RC priest says they were kicked out with nothing and told to mail back their habits; the C of E bishop says it was sad but amicable and they were given 1,000 pounds to assist them. And I do recall an earlier story stating that the younger nuns had made arrangements to join an RC convent. If they’ve made the decision, they simply move on — there’s no “waiting around for the ordinariate.” That doesn’t make sense.
So, for those who relish Anglican bad behavior, I’m sorry but I think the media might be stoking a fire here — or building it altogether.
It looks like they were given the boot promptly by the bishop intervening, but the remaining nuns offered them some funds. Not good, but I suppose this is what one will have to get used to in this shambles our House of Bishops have foisted on us.
For this religious house, prayer is needed for those remaining and also for those leaving. For those remaining, that others come forward with vocations to enable the house to survive; but what can they offer in the wretched arrangements now in our church?
I expect we will see more of this stuff as the CofE is TECised. Our HOB have brought the division of TEC here; and in their reaction we are seeing the battening down of hatches. Anyone would think preparations are afoot to repel boarders. We are beginning to see the same frankly unChristian behaviour we have all watched appalled from across the pond the TEC heretics engaging in. One would have hoped we could aspire to better in the service of our God.
Not with a bang, but a whimper.
A thousand quid. How very generous of him. MUST Anglicans who are allowed to exercise authority own-goal themselves and the Church into a public-relations grave?
What else should one expect of an institutionalist who prizes loyalty to a “church” over living out the law of Christ?
Would the situation have been different if they were RC sisters who had decided to join a not-yet-formed Anglican order, but were awaiting these arrangements to be worked out?