Nuns With Their Own Church...?

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CheerfulTabby22

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I may have posted about these ladies, a couple years ago.

Recently, I came back into contact with two Sisters one day, as they were buying items for a trip to Africa.

They dress differently from the Sisters who are a part of my local Saint Peter’s and the Saint Mary’s Church. More ‘Traditional’, I guess you could say? Long black and white garb, with the large crosses. I honestly thought it was kinda neat, when I first met them- there’s something that seems old about the outfits- from another time, almost.

“You should visit OUR church,” The elder of the two said, when I cheerily mentioned that I was again considering going to Saint Peter’s.

“Oh, they don’t APPROVE of us, unfortunately,” The younger Sister said, “They say we are going against The Church”

I’d forgotten that they’d already said this to me, two years ago.

“There are those who say that the Church changes. But WE don’t believe that the church changes…”

THIS time, I had an answer for them- I’ve started to learn a lot (Some of that’s thanks to all of you folks! 🙂) in two years! I said, “Oh, are ya…talking about Vatican 2?”

They looked at me blankly for a second and then the younger Sister gave me a mysterious smile, her eyes staring intently, “You HAVE been listening and learning, haven’t you, little Tabitha?”

🤓 (Yaay~)

Anyways, the Sister added," They wrote an article denouncing us, in their newsletter."

This upset me a little, because they seemed to be…really railing against Saint Peter’s.

“So, you should come to OUR church,” Sister insisted," Also, you’re welcome to come to Africa, with us."

THEY INVITED ME TO AFRICA. Even though I’ve only spoken with em’ a couple times? Don’t get me wrong, I was really grateful and flattered that they seemed to mean this- but it just struck me as a tad…odd. They did seem very nice, though!

~

Later, I spoke with one of the Fathers at Saint Peter’s about them (This is the Father I’d met, when I first considered the Catholic Church two years ago!) kind as always, and very patient as I explained my concerns.

When I ventured to ask (Cautiously and politely) about the Sisters, he became very careful with his words. “They do a lot of good work,” He said, “I know the Sisters you’re speaking of. They are not…in communion with the Church. But they do many good things for the local veterans”

I’ve heard this phrase before, but what does it mean? Not ‘In communion with the church’?

Also, I think maybe this is one of my stumbling blocks, to joining the church- it’s just that well (I hope I don’t sound impolite) there seems to be…a lotta STRIFE in my local church/ around it? At the same time, that’s kinda a part of life though, too.

❤️ Anyway, lots of love to all, and hope everyone is having a great day! Any thoughts or insights are always appreciated~
 
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So, you are going to get a lot of people on here who are gonna tell you that these nuns are evil.

I am not gonna say that. We don’t know anyone in this situation. We don’t know who is right. We don’t know who is telling the truth. These nuns could have had a bad experience at your parish; and your parish might have some problems. On the other hand, your parish could be right about these sisters.

To “not be in communion with the church” means that you dissent from the teachings of the Catholic Church, or that you are not in union with the bishop of Rome (the pope). You should look up their name, and do your own research.
 
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My guess would be that they’re sedevacantists, that they believe that Vatican II contradicted Church teaching and therefore illegitimated the current Catholic Church.
 
That’s very sad. We need more nuns who wear the more traditional habits, and they seem like nice ladies. I would try to convince them to rejoin the Church, and point them to things like the FSSP and ICTK.
 
Thank you for your thoughtful reply. A term that I’ve learned (From here, actually) is that it’s good to always try to be “charitable”. And though I’m sure you’re right, I wanna encourage others to be charitable towards these Sisters, also! I really feel like I don’t know much about this situation, also.
 
It means that this group has decided to separate themselves from the Church, they have become their own brand of “Protestant”. You ought to be able to google the newsletter in question and read the details, or, call your Diocese office of Religious and get the details.
 
TheLittleLady said:
It means that this group has decided to separate themselves from the Church, they have become their own brand of “Protestant”.
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I’d push back on this – I’d wager their church has valid sacraments and so forth, and only a tiny amount of Protestantism could be argued to have that. I’d view them more similarly to the Orthodox than to Protestants.
 
Unless we know the nature of “not in communion”, it could be everything from just rebellious to full out excommunication, I’d not assure anyone of valid sacraments.
 
Right. Your pastor seems to be of the opinion that these sisters have willfully rejected the authority of Rome, or at least of the current pope. He may be right. He may be misreading the situation. Either way, you are happy where you are, so, do your own research while you get fed where you are.
 
Ohh! That’s fascinating!! AHH! I’ve actually heard someone use that term before! But I didn’t know what it meant at the time! When I worked at my local Coffee Shop, there was a small group of Catholics who would come in- two of whom (A couple) told me that they were “Sedevacantists”- and at the time I just kind of nodded in confusion and forgot about it. Thank you for the info!
 
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TheLittleLady said:
Unless we know the nature of “not in communion”, it could be everything from just rebellious to full out excommunication, I’d not assure anyone of valid sacraments.
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“I’d wager” is a pretty far cry from “I assure.” And we’re not talking about Calvinists here. We’re talking uber-trads.
 
CheerfulTabby22 said:
Ohh! That’s fascinating!! AHH! I’ve actually heard someone use that term before! But I didn’t know what it meant at the time! When I worked at my local Coffee Shop, there was a small group of Catholics who would come in- two of whom (A couple) told me that they were “Sedevacantists”- and at the time I just kind of nodded in confusion. Thank you for the info!
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Yeah, the term is sede (referring to the Holy See) + vacantist (meaning it’s vacant).
 
It means they think that the throne of Peter (the office of the papacy) is currently empty. In their view, the current putative occupant (Francis Bergoglio), is somehow unqualified and/or disqualified from holding office - and therefore at present there is no pope.

If the nuns in question actually do hold to this view, they would not be in communion with the Church. But we don’t know for sure that they do hold to this view.
 
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If I had to guess- I’d say that these Sisters are having a mass…without a priest? Um, they mentioned that they have mass at “Their church” And don’t you have to have a priest present? (Forgive me for asking all of this stuff! Still learning!)
 
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I would be pretty surprised if that’s the case.

Of course, if it is, that means that they could at most have two valid sacraments (Baptism and marriage).
 
There are all stripes of groups, I know excommunicated nuns who have excommunicated priests offering Mass.
 
They might be attending a sedevacantist mass. There are plenty of those.
 
ANYHOO

Hypothetical discussions on which sacraments they may or may not have aside, steer clear.
 
You’re probably right! Sounds like they are extremely traditional which I’m guessin’ means that they’d be trying to do things almost exactly the way that it used to be done(?) So maybe they have a very traditional priest, as well? (They’ve never mentioned him, though…)
 
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