Episcopal 'path' spurs nuns' break

By Julia Duin
September 13, 2009

It's been at least 10 years since I visited the All Saints Sisters of the Poor convent in Catonsville, Md., for a personal retreat. Located on 88 acres near Patapsco State Park, it offered plenty of walks for those of us inclined to pray better while traipsing about nature. I stayed in a guest wing, as retreatants were not allowed to mix with the nuns who lived there.

The sisters are well known for their artsy, handmade cards. All Saints was the first place I knew of that had sympathy cards for people who had lost a pet.

Even more unusual was their calling as Episcopal nuns in a denomination that had very few religious communities. Their habits were nearly exact replicas of the long, black robes and white wimples of 1960s-era Roman Catholic nuns.

So I was not totally surprised to learn they were leaving the Episcopal Church. On Sept. 3, Baltimore Archbishop Edwin O'Brien received 10 of the 12 nuns into the Roman Catholic Church. the rest