We have all seen the war movies and heard the stories of those too young to serve lying about their age so as to join the service in defense of liberty, justice, or freedom. Some said they were young and naive, but they wanted to be in the battle. They wanted to make a difference.
When I hear these stories, I usually think of the kid from Brooklyn or the farm boy out of Iowa. They knew where the real battle of their day was occurring and they wanted to be part of it.
The kid from Brooklyn, the farm boy from Iowa, the nuns at Walsingham?
In a joint statement, the nuns explained their situation. They said: “On December 2 2010 Sister Wendy Renate, Sister Jane Louise and Sister Carolyne Joseph left the Priory of Our Lady in Walsingham for a period of discernment with the intention of joining the ordinariate when established. We ask prayers for ourselves and for the Sisters remaining at the Priory of Our Lady.”
The community, which numbered seven nuns belonging to the Society of St Margaret, reportedly voted four to three against joining the ordinariate. The three nuns who left the community are its youngest members. The priory is an autonomous house of the Society of St Margaret and is not linked to the Anglican shrine at Walsingham, which is under the administration of Rt Rev Lindsay Urwin, the former Bishop of Horsham.
The young always seem to know where the battle is. Maybe not just the young.
Increasingly, I get the feeling that more and more separated Christians are coming to the realization that in the battle between Christianity and militant secularism, all the generals are in the Catholic Church.
I don’t base this feeling—and I readily admit it is a feeling not based on much more than my gut—that serious Christians of many stripes increasingly see the church, the Catholic Church, as the “pillar and bulwark of the truth.”
I was at a business dinner a few years ago. I work for a German company. This dinner, in Miami, was with some of the head muckety-mucks from my company. I got into a conversation with one executive out of Germany, a former Lutheran pastor, who confided to me that he was seriously considering becoming Catholic.
I asked him why and he responded in a startlingly straightforward manner. “The Catholic Church doesn’t change its teachings.” I understood that this was the dumbed-down version of what he was trying to say but I understood what he was getting at.
I also asked him, if he believed that, why he had not yet converted. He went on at length about family pressure and, well you know the rest. Change is tough. Change after a lifetime is really tough.
This is why I marvel at the courage of some of the long-serving Bishops of the Anglican communion. I suppose it shows the wisdom of what Pope Benedict has wrought through the introduction of the ordinariate. Such change has got to be easier when you are not alone.
That said, I cannot help but think that these young nuns are making the move because they implicitly understand that the battle has been joined. The lines are being formed. It is time for a choice. Do you stand with Jesus? Do you stand with his Church? Do you have the “pillar and bulwark of the truth?”
I don’t pretend to know how this will all work out. But I do know that before the end, there will be battles, the lines will be drawn, and there will be one flock and one shepherd.
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Recently a woman wrote into the Irish Times to complain about the exclusion of women from the priesthood. In the same letter this champion of inclusivity said she was “offended” that the Church was about to allow all these conservative Anglicans in.
So when you say, “serious Christians of many stripes increasingly see the church, the Catholic Church, as the “pillar and bulwark of the truth,” I cannot help but wish that more Catholics were among them.
Carole: The problem is that in Protestant denominations, people leave when they don’t agree with whatever the predominant opinion/teaching is. The Catholic church keeps everyone who won’t leave. So you have to go by the teachings, not by what individual members say. People like the woman you write about can be wrong about everything and still consider themselves Catholic. And that’s as it should be—when you are in the Church there is always hope that you will become a better Catholic.
I am a “cradle” Roman Catholic, but I now attend Holy Mass with an Anglican Use Roman Catholic group. This Anglican Use group are former Episcopalians who with their rector were received into the Catholic Church five (5) years ago. Their rector returned to seminary studies in the Roman Catholic Church, and he has since been ordained as a priest in the Catholic Church. These former Protestants have a much better understanding of Catholic orthodoxy and the importance of obedience to the Magisterium than most “cradle” Catholics I have met in my life. Thanks to their studious diligence, they cherish their Catholic Faith while preserving their Anglican patrimony. Now with the introduction of Anglican Use ordinariates, we will experience the “leaven” these new and dedicated Cahtolics will bring to our beloved Church throughout the English speaking world. The young Anglican religious sisters are part of this “leaven”, God bless them and all those who are about to cross the Tiber. Welcome Home!
We raised our family of six children in middle Georgia. The Catholic community in a county of 25,000 consisted of 125 souls who practiced their faith. Our children were marked for persecution by their peers and by several teachers in the school system. The Catechism of the Catholic Church was referred to frequently at the dinner table to explain Church teaching. The children were able to explain the more controversial teachings (especialy regarding the Eucharist and the Blessed Mother) in a lucid and convincing manner. My oldest daughter, now a busy mother of 3 under 5 received a face book message from a former high school classmate that she and her husband were in RCIA and were coming into the Catholic Church because the recognized the Church was the bulwark of truth and also she recalled my daughter’s strong defense of the faith in High School. The Catholic Church has the answers that well-intentioned Christians are seeking. May each of you have a happy and holy Christmas.
As a senior Catholic I was fortunate enough to be catechized before the “spirit of Vatican II” (which, of course, bears no relationship to conciliar actions or documents) permeated the Catholic educational system, resulting in empty churches, empty convents, and no priests. It is my fervent hope that the rising tide of recognition that the Magisterium represents our only hope of keeping the light of truth alight in a darkening world will overtake the current generation of priests, since a conversion of heart is badly needed in many of them.
@C-McCaffrey: Excellent point. My parents were born behind the Iron Curtain. Eventually - and after passing an examination - they were granted U-S citizenship. Since they knew what it was to not be free, they held as dear things native-born Americans sometimes took for granted. Today was my final Confirmation Class. I joke that I’m not so much converting to Catholicism as I am emigrating. May I never give the Church cause to regret welcoming me.
This trickle of Anglicans into Roman Catholicism may continue and bolster the ranks of conservatives while the flood of Roman Catholics into the Anglican and Episcopal Communions will continue unabated while these Catholics look for communities where they are not merely passive vessels of authoritarian teaching, but active partners in the work of the Gospel.
Really, the numbers don’t compare.
Perhaps some from this “flood” of Roman Catholics to Anglican and Episcopal communities will return to the true Church when they grow up and stop expecting the truth to conform to their self-centered desires.
Nice post/blog.
More and More Episcopalian Nuns are becoming Catholic Nuns. Welcome home to the true Catholic Church.
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