More on those nuns: how female religious life was lost

St Warburgh

For those who want to understand what happened to priests, brothers, and religious sisters, since the Second Vatican Council, there are some really good books to read.

Malachi Martin The Jesuits explains what happened to the the most presigious and influential religious order. Did you know that 100 Jesuits petitioned to form a separate order with a traditional Jesuit ethos? There's nothing liberal fascists hate more than the idea that they'll be in direct competition with a non-liberal alternative.

Michael Rose Goodbye Good Men is about seminaries in the USA, with a few references further afield. I've heard the methodology of the book criticised, but it tells the story well enough. The disastrous collapse of moral and academic standards, and the appalling liturgical abuses, of the 70s, 80s and 90s has not been entirely undone, but things are improving. In the meantime, of course, the loss of the good vocations from those years can never be undone.

Ann Carey Sisters in Crisis is about religious sisters (active, not contemplative, and mostly 'sisters', not, technically, nuns). Like Malachi Martin she talks in some detail about the things happening even before the Council which began to undermine the sisters, and were crucial to the rapid spread of liberal innovations during and after it.

Investigation of the American sisters: deja vu

Meet the radical young liberals

The much hyped and much opposed investigation of the state of the life of women religious in the United States of America has concluded, and commentators are shocked - shocked! - to find it is a whitewash. While acknowledging the practical problems arising from an aging body of sisters (the average age is 75, and there are more sisters over 90 than under 60), they are congratulated for their witness and good works.

They are heading down the pan, and the people writing this report aren't terribly interested in working out why, either to make suggestions for reform or as a warning to others. The fact that many of the sisters have completely abandoned community life, neither praying nor living together; the fact that many of them have adopted work which has no specific relation to their community's charism nor indeed to the Catholic Church; the fact that many have discarded any semblance of religious dress and any semblance of the Office; the fact that many of them have lost the Faith: these facts would explain it. We don't really need a report from the Vatican to tell us, it is all in Ann Carey, 'Sisters in Crisis', now in a second edition.

Trip to Lanherne

Mass on Sunday: the Sisters are behind the grill and net curtain on the left.

I take a brief break from my ongoing series of posts to put some photos of my recent (and first ever) trip to Lanherne Convent: that is, the former Carmel now occupied by a community of the Contemplative branch of the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate.

Venerating a relic (the cranium) of St Cuthbert Mayne, a local saint.

I arrived late for the regular Sunday morning Mass, and was able to go to a early morning weekday Mass on the Monday morning. These were both Low and were said by the chaplain, Fr George Roth FFI.

Mass on Monday: the Sisters are now directly facing the Altar, and the laity looking side-on.

The convent is rather large, but not easy to see from outside. And, obviously, I couldn't go inside. I did speak to the Superior in the 'Speaker Room', with the double grill.

The convent glimpsed from the back.

It was very edifying. Lanherne Convent is in the village of St Mawgan, near the north coast of Cornwall. It is very remote, but today oddly well connected by air, being close to Newquay International Airport.



 More photos.

Donate to the Friends of Lanherne here.

Update on the Fransiscans of the Immaculate in England

The Friars at Stoke and the Sisters at Lanherne in Cornwall have both confirmed that they have the necessary permission to continue to have the Traditional Mass as they have in the past: in Stoke, on Sundays, and at Lanherne every day.



I don't know how the FFI are getting on elsewhere in the world, but this at least is very positive.

'Friends of Lanherne' launched

I blogged some time ago on the predicament of the Sisters of the Immaculate at Lanherne in Cornwall. They have for ten years been living in a convent owned by the Carmelites, who had moved out. The sisters use the 1962 Missal for Mass and the 1962 Office. And they look the part. There's some more information about their way of life on the New Liturgical Movement. See where it is on a map.

The Carmelites now want to sell the property. The Sisters of the Immaculate cannot own property, however, and have no money. So some lay supporters have now set up a charitable trust for this purpose: registered charity 1146207.

There is now a Friends of Lanherne blog: www.friendsoflanherne.org

It is possible to donate to them online (credit card or Paypal) through the Charities Aid Foundation.

Or write to:

Friends of Lanherne,
69 Derwent Drive,
Purley,
Surrey, CR8 1ES

Email: info@acharlton.f9.co.uk.

What happened to the nuns?

In a friend's house on Sunday I saw one of those long school photos. It was of a Catholic girls' school, with an impressive line-up of nuns. It was dated 1985.



Below it was another school photo, of the same place two years later. There were three of four old nuns in habits, but the rest had disappeared.



Where had they gone? Well they had literally disappeared, without actually ceasing to exist, because they had given up the habit. They are no longer visible as nuns.

Of course to the trained eye the peculiarly tasteless clothes nuns always seemed to adopt after giving up the habit is an indentifying feature. But that is not a sign of their religious identity, but of their rejection of their religious identity.

I'd be willing to bet anything that they cited 'Vatican II' as a justification, despite the fact that the Council taught the opposite: Perfectae Caritatis says

17. The religious habit, an outward mark of consecration to God, should be simple and modest, poor and at the same time becoming.

They had evidently already responded to the suggestion (which comes next, in the text) that habits could be 'simplified', by adopting a rather uninteresting habit, but at least they looked like nuns.

Bl. Pope John-Paul II was particularly exercised about religious habits, (eg Vita Consecrata (1996) 25), but his words had no effect on nuns like these. On the other hand, it is hard to imagine a religious community giving up the habit today, or a new one being founded without one. The bright new era of nuns in hideous checked frocks turned out to be a dead end very quickly indeed.

I pity the remaining un-habited nuns and sisters, rattling around in their convents (if they haven't yet moved into an old peoples' home). They married the spirit of the age, and have been widowed.

Here's another Br Choleric cartoon, from 'Cracks in the Curia' (1972); it is uncaptioned. The little girl knows that the habited nun will be nice to her: that is what the habit means, among other things. For her part, the habited nun knows she has a vocation to service: again, the habit she puts on each morning means that. The nun in secular dress is delighted with her mascara, but she has lost both sides of the bargain.

Lanherne Convent appeal

I too have received the same e-mail as Fr Sean and Fr Ray Blake.

The Sisters of the Immaculate at Lanherne have for ten years occupied a convent owned by the Carmelites. This is not odd for them as they are unable to own property. However the Carmelites have announced that they wish to put the convent on the open market, unless... well, unless the Sisters can come up with something.

They are a thriving community who use Traditional Mass the 1962 Breviary. They are a sister order to the Friars of the Immaculate, who have a base in Stoke and two of whom accompanied the LMS Pilgrimage to Walsingham.

Please pray for a solution to be found. The community is unique in the British Isles and if they lose the convent they will have to return to Italy. The order, and the community at Lanherne, is international.

If we English Catholics can't find a home for these sisters who want to devote their entire lives to praying for us, then I say we do not deserve the conversion of England for which we all long.

Lanherne sisters want to buy another convent

This is a very exciting proposal - if the necessary benefactors could be found. Please pass this news on!

Photos of Lanherne below and more here. The nuns have restored the chapel.

--------------------------

Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate, Lanherne Cornwall

DARLINGTON CARMEL (one of the very early Carmels to be established in England [1830]) is up for sale. The very few remaining sisters are soon to move out. At Lanherne we have known about this for several months and we have been to visit the establishment. Wonderful for our needs! The Sisters are not going to leave Lanherne, in fact another house is needed as a new foundation. The Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate have a goodly number of vocations; especially sisters who at the moment belong to the “active” branch who have a vocation to the contemplative life. So another contemplative house is needed. There is a major problem. Yes, you’ve got it! The FSI have no money and the Carmelites at Darlington require one and half million pounds. If you know Darlington and the Carmel then you will be surprised that it’s going for only £1,500,000. It’s large and fine, in good order and a Grade 2 listed building.

So we are looking for a benefactor. Franciscans cannot own property and therefore a possible benefactor would continue to own the Carmel and would let the FSI use it – or a trust could be set up. It is possible that with a serious bit of thinking other activities may be considered - retreats etc. ALL is possible. May I remind you that the FSI use ONLY the 1962 liturgical books. A centre for traditional Catholics in the north of England would be a great help to many people.

Please pray that a benefactor or a group of benefactors may be found.

Please contact me and let me know your thoughts.

Father Joseph M Taylor
Lanherne Convent
St Mawgan
Newquay
Cornwall
TR8 4ER

Lanherne and Caldey Island

I've recently been sent photograps of the LMS Pilgrimage to Caldey Island, and the refurbished chapel of the new community at Lanherne in Cornwall, of the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate.

For more on the convent, see this article from Mass of Ages. This reletively new order have taken over this former Carmelite convent. They are fully committed to the Traditional Missal and Office, and have now put the altar of their chapel back against the east wall. Thanks to Martin Gardner who took this photograph and others which can be seen here.

In the meantime, the Latin Mass Society Pilgrimage to another very interesting monastic centre, Caldey Abbey on Caldey Island, has taken place.



This was the first Traditional Mass to be celebrated on Caldey Island in c.40 years. The Feast was the Most Precious Blood and the celebrant was Fr Jason Jones of Our Lady of the Taper, Cardigan.

Thanks to Steffano Mazzeo, the LMS local Representative who organised the event. More photos here.