Happy New Year, happy new orders!

A few of the Sisters of Our Mother of Divine Grace, from their website.

Some heartening news from the good people at The National Catholic Register: 

The Holy Spirit is breathing new religious orders into being, like desert wildflowers after a storm. Conversion is a common ingredient.

Striving to be “salt of the earth” that gives flavor to their evangelization, the Sisters of Our Mother of Divine Grace, Daughters of Mary of Nazareth and Brigittine Servitores have much zeal to share, especially as the Church celebrates the Year of Consecrated Life.

None of these orders are pontifically approved, but they have diocesan approval, which is one of the first steps for a new community.

Virtually no community jumps to pontifical status immediately; they move through various stages in their original diocese and then get received into other dioceses, building toward the day when they can apply for universal recognition by the Holy See.

The Sisters of Our Mother of Divine Grace are based in Port Sanilac, Mich.

Their community, founded by Bishop Joseph Cistone, began in 2010 in the Diocese of Saginaw. They are members of the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious (CMSWR).

The sisters were previously part of the sedevacantist community of the Congregation of Mary, Immaculate Queen in Spokane, Wash. Sedevacantists do not accept the legitimacy of the popes since the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958. A smaller number holds that the last legitimate pope was Pius X. The Sisters of Our Mother of Divine Grace are now in full communion with the Church.

“We were at our community in Spokane when we made our leap of faith into full communion. We were given time to discern. Four of us came to Michigan to be mentored by the religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma,” explained Sister Mary Inviolata, a pastoral administrator for the combined parish of St. Denis (Lexington), Our Lady of Sorrows (Port Sanilac) and St. Patrick (Croswell).

The sisters’ apostolate is parish work and ecumenism.

“We are revitalizing parishes through catechesis, perpetual adoration and Marian devotion,” Sister Mary Inviolata said. “We hope to expand to teaching.”

She continued, “Ecumenism is part of our charism. We have a vacation Bible school with the Methodists and Lutherans. We have a Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.”

Those are just for starters. Check out the rest. And keep these and all religious in your prayers in the new year, as we continue the Year of Consecrated Life.