Episcopalian order takes in evicted LA nuns

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Nuns facing eviction get help

An Episcopal order has agreed to take in the three women whose convent is being sold.

By Rebecca Trounson, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer November 15, 2007

Three Roman Catholic nuns who learned last summer that their Santa Barbara convent would be sold to help cover the costs of Los Angeles’ multimillion-dollar abuse payout have been offered a temporary home by an order of Episcopal nuns in the same city.

The three Sisters of Bethany will move around Thanksgiving to St. Mary’s Retreat House, an Episcopal center near the Santa Barbara Mission, according to the nuns’ spokesman and to a relative of one of the nuns. The center is a ministry of the Sisterhood of the Holy Nativity, an order based in Wisconsin.

The offer is temporary, but open-ended.

Full story
 
At this point this whole story is getting weird. Aren’t there any Catholic nuns who could extend some hospitality to the Sisters of Bethany?
 
SuscipeMeDomine said:
At this point this whole story is getting weird. Aren’t there any Catholic nuns who could extend some hospitality to the Sisters of Bethany?
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I’m not sure. They wanted to stay in Santa Barbara, and declined moving back to Los Angeles.
 
I just hope they won’t decide to convert during the process.:hmmm:
 
Exceptionally weird. Ya think there just MIGHT be a few convents around with unoccupied cells??!
 
There are the Poor Clares in Santa Barbara but they are cloistered nuns who llive very austere lives and care for a beautiful Catholic chapel on the grounds.

They would be happy to have theise nuns but Poor Clares live cloistered lives and very strict rules. The nuns would have to give up everything and it is an enourmous sacriice. The Poor Clares are extraordinary in every sence of the word. I admire them greatly.
 
Dale_M said:
I’m not sure. They wanted to stay in Santa Barbara, and declined moving back to Los Angeles.
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**It is my understanding that they were approached by several Catholic communities to take them in temporarily but they would have to leave Santa Barbara for an undetermined length of time. They decided to go with a nonCatholic Episopal community, which I find rather odd. But then again, it’s California. 😉 **
 
The comments on this topic lean toward creepy and disgusting. Like it’s “weird” and “odd” that the evicted sisters would even think of moving in with—Yuk!—Episcopalians! who aren’t even Catholic.

Could it be they responded positively when the Holy Nativity sisters reached out and offered to share what they had, in the way Christians, historically, are alleged to have treated one another?

I’ve attended some weekend retreats at St. Mary’s in Santa Barbara, and I would have a hard time distinguishing the environment from that of a Catholic monastic house. The Order of The Holy Nativity has taken “hospitality” as their mission, meaning that they operate retreat houses. One of the really nice things about a retreat with a religious order is the rhythm of the day, punctuated with prayers at the canonical hours. The sisters at St. Mary’s have a small chapel where they gather for the scheduled prayer times; retreatants, visitors, and neighbors are expected to join them. All the nuns I ever met there provided a wonderful, holy, joyful living example of what the dedicated religious life can be.

A friend in California mentioned in a phone call today the gist of the story that started this thread. (She said it made her quickly decide where one of her discretionary Christmas gifts will go.) I was delighted to hear about it, because it’s exactly what I would have expected from the Holy Nativity Sisters and because the Sisters of Bethany will receive the warm, unconditional support of a like-minded community.
 
ChesapeakeBear said:
A friend in California mentioned in a phone call today the gist of the story that started this thread. (She said it made her quickly decide where one of her discretionary Christmas gifts will go.) .
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**She’s probably sending them a box of “fruit and nuts.” 😛 **
 
I pray that those who have posted uncharitable comments relating to the act of true christian charity extended by our Episcopal (Anglican) sisters in Christ to the evicted nuns in LA may reflect more profoundly on the meaning of charity prior to posting such words that can only be considered unflattering to Catholics who believe charity to be an invaluable virtue–indeed a theological virtue also for Episcopalians. In His Grace, Til2morrow
 
The sisters of the Holy Nativity are a great order and in extending hospitality to their fellow religious; they are living out a basic christian virtue. Which would indeed be good to meditate on and live out.

their website is www.stmaryretreathouse.com

One of their favorite sayings is: “We grow in Christ and Christ in us. In us, self must die, that we may rise from the grave of what we are, to the glory of what we should be.”

When one of the disciples complained to Christ that there were “others” using His name to heal, what was Christ’s response?

In Christ’s Peace,

Br Mark,OSB
 
KathleenElsie said:
OLD thread. Is there any new news?
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The Catholic sisters have gone in various directions:

Sister Margarita was recently reassigned by the order to its Los Angeles convent. Sister Angela, 70, and ill, went on medical leave, said to be seriously affected by the stress, and recently went to live with her sister in the L.A. area. “God will show me what He wants for me,” she told me. Sister Consuelo is scheduled to fly to her home country of Columbia tonight to teach school near Bogotá. Source]

The convent is adjacent to Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. Now that the convent is vacant the church will use the space as part of an expansion plan. Source]

In the meantime, the Episcopal sisters have taken in a group of Episcopal monks who lost their monastery in a recent fire. Source]
 
Having just signed on to this forum I noticed after posting that indeed this was an old thread. However, though it is an old thread, christian charity is never old news! I still stand by my statements and I now know where to look on the posting for the dates etc. Thanks to the moderator for the heads up on postings.

In Christ,
Til2morrow.
 
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