Sister Loretta-Maria has founded an "autonomous" Carmelite convent in Florida, independent of any diocese.
The structure will be a purely private institution, a lay association of women living with private vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.
Sister Loretta-Maria was one of a handful of Carmelite nuns who lived for six years at the Carmelite convent in Savannah, Georgia. The monastery was closed * by the Carmelites in late 2022, in accordance with the Vatican instruction "Cor Orans" issued in April 2018.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider supports the project and has sent a letter with his blessing, writing: "The desire of the sisters is to serve the Holy Roman Catholic Church as an autonomous monastic community for the greater glory of God, the salvation of souls and the preservation of the Traditional Latin Mass."
And: "May the blessing of the Almighty God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, descend upon this work and remain forever!"
The convent will begin with the construction of the building. It is unclear how many women are there and who will celebrate Mass for them.
*The Vatican asked the Carmelite nuns of Savannah, Georgia, to disappear following an apostolic visitation in 2022 (LifeSiteNews.com, April 28).
The three sisters and two novices were ordered in September 2022 to leave their monastery, which sits on prime real estate, by the end of the year. The older sisters were told to "find a nursing home", including a 95-year-old sister who was one of the nuns who founded the convent in 1958.
The nuns didn't comply. In February, the anti-Catholic Carmelite Federation and Savannah Bishop Stephen Parkes met with the nuns to order them to leave within two months. In April this year, the nuns asked for more time.
This is not Parkes' first act of destruction. Last year he forbade the celebration of Holy Mass in his diocese after 25 years.