Espiscopal Nuns & Chaplain Come Home

A community of 10 Episcopal nuns in Maryland, along with their chaplain, will be welcomed into the Catholic Church by Archbishop O'Brien. The nuns, who give retreats and work with the poor and dying, had apparently been praying about this and studying Church teaching for quite some time. They had been troubled by some of the changes that had recently taken place in the Episcopal Church, including the ordination of women priests and a gay bishop, and felt that they could not in good conscience remain a part of that religious community. Their chaplain, Episcopal priest Father Warren Tanghe, will also be accepted into the Church and is in the process of discerning whether he is called to become a Catholic priest.

Of course, the reception of this small community nuns by the Catholic Church could be overshadowed if the 400,000 member Traditional Anglican Community (TAC) is ultimately welcomed into the Church. In October of 2007 the TAC College of Bishops unanimously decided to seek communion with the Roman Catholic Church and sent a letter to the Vatican requesting the same. I don't know the details of their request or the current state of any discussion between the TAC and the Vatican. I know, however, that many traditional Anglicans consider the doctrine of papal infallibility as defined by the 1st Vatican Council in 1870 as a major stumbling block to full communion with the Catholic Church. It should be interesting to watch what happens in the months and years to come.