| U.S. News

But one of the key turning points in the journey was watching the moving funeral liturgy for Pope John Paul II.

Two former members of the schismatic community at Mount St. Michael in north Spokane discussed their return to the Catholic Church in an interview with Inland Register, Spokane diocesan newspaper, at their new home at Immaculate Heart Retreat Center in Spokane.

The Mount St. Michael community believes in a theological position of "sedevacantism," which, expressed simply, means that because of heresy, the chair of Peter has been vacant since Pope Pius XII, who died in 1958.

Individually, some members of the Religious Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen at Mount St. Michael found themselves beginning to question that position.

"It wasn't like we planned anything, or the sisters came together to this conclusion," said Mother Marie de Lourdes, moderator of the community. Rather, individuals began to reconsider the position, "and discovered others on a similar journey," she said.

Sister Francis Marie said a key point for herself and others was watching the "very moving and rich" funeral liturgy for Pope John Paul. The sisters then began to follow the story of his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, on the Internet.

"I noticed the good that he was doing," she said. "I sat up and paid attention: We had a good man, a good pope." That idea was almost impossible, according to the strictures of the sedevacantist position, she said. "But he seemed to be doing what a good pope would do."

Father Darrin Connall, rector of Bishop White Seminary in Spokane, is one of the priests who worked with the sisters as they made their journey home to the Catholic Church.

At first, he "was kind of shocked" the sisters were interested in talking to him, he said.

Mother Mary Katrina, head of the community at that time and one of the sisters who has left Mount St. Michael, "explained to me," he said, "that through studying the teachings of the church, and listening to" Sacred Heart Radio, operated in Spokane by the Poor Clare Sisters, several of the sisters realized that what they were reading and hearing "sounded incredibly Catholic."

"They began to have questions about their theological position," he said.

Father Connall is convinced that a prime mover of this event was prayer.

When Spokane Bishop William S. Skylstad invited the Missionaries of Charity to establish a house in Spokane, part of his request was based on the area's poverty -- not material poverty but spiritual poverty, particularly in regard to schismatic groups such as the community at Mount St. Michael.

In October 2005, the Missionaries of Charity took the names of the sisters at the Mount and began to pray for them, said Father Dan Barnett, pastor of St. Patrick Parish, where Mount St. Michael is located and where the Missionaries of Charity have their convent.

His parish also conducted "a stewardship of prayer campaign," he said. "One of the stewardship intentions was reconciliation with Mount St. Michael. Some months later, I received word that some of the sisters (at the Mount) were really questioning the validity of the sedevacantist position."

Some of the sisters attended conferences given to the Missionaries of Charity on Thursday evenings by Benedictine Abbot Adrian Parcher, now pastor of parishes in Colfax and LaCrosse, Wash. At Mount St. Michael the sisters had been told "there were no more women religious in the world, but they saw the Missionaries of Charity, in full habit, living a form of religious life more radical even than theirs," said Father Connall.

As the sisters learned more, and asked more questions, they encountered nothing but patience, compassion and understanding, said Mother Marie de Lourdes.

Bishop Skylstad "could have written us off, or made some public statement" ordering Catholics to stay away, "but he didn't," she said. "He didn't condemn us. He patiently waited, understanding of our plight, supportive, prayerful, in a Christ-like spirit of love."

Fifteen members left the community in late June. Bishop Skylstad has approved their statutes, recognizing the Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Church as a private association of the faithful for a three-year period.

The first year will be a period of discernment, prayer and study, said Mother Marie de Lourdes – "seeking God's will for the future."

For now, they will settle in to their new lives. They will pray, work and study as a community. Donors have stepped forward to pay for their housing, food and formation resources. Others have provided household goods, cash donations and the muscle to help them move.

The sisters have been "overwhelmed, almost, with kindness, with the charity of people," said Mother Marie de Lourdes. "The support, the prayer, the gifts, the encouragement -- it's incredible."

The transition so far has been "in God's time," said Sister Francis, "when it was best for all of us."