The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham has announced the establishment of its first religious institute, the Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The ten sisters, who wear the traditional Benedictine habit, were formerly members of an Anglican monastery.

Pope Benedict established the ordinariate in 2011 to allow Anglican individuals and communities in England and Wales to enter the Catholic Church while retaining elements of their Anglican heritage.

“As we continue to welcome Anglicans into the full communion of the Catholic Church, and establish a distinctive life of witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ, the prayerful support of these sisters will be invaluable,” said an ordinariate spokesman. “We look forward, also, to receiving a great deal from their rich liturgical and musical heritage, which is rightly respected far and wide as a positive contribution to the wider renewal of the Sacred Liturgy which we are currently seeing in the Catholic Church.”

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