The nuns were asked to leave the Priory of Our
Lady of Walsingham after revealing they planned to join the Roman
Catholic Church.
The Rt Rev Peter
Wheatley, the Bishop of Edmonton and Visitor to the house, told the nuns
to leave the house they were sharing with four other, older, sisters.
Relations had become strained in the convent following the decision by the younger sisters to join the Ordinariate – the structure set up by Pope Benedict XVI to welcome disillusioned Anglicans into the Catholic fold.
The older nuns were upset by their announcement, which they felt divided the house and left them facing the task of running the community on their own.
Sisters Wendy Renate, Jane Louise and Carolyne Joseph, wanted to stay at the priory until they were able to be received as Catholics, but were told to leave as soon as possible.
"The atmosphere in the house was appalling," says one insider.
"They saw it as a desertion and felt the younger nuns were using the house as a hostel until they left.
"It's not surprising they were upset as the expectation is that the younger ones should look after the older nuns because running the house and changing the beds are hardly jobs for women in their 80s."
However, Fr Peter Geldard, a Catholic convert who is now a chaplain at Kent University, said it was a shame that a temporary arrangement couldn't have been found for the younger nuns.
"In the purest sense they've left with nothing and were hardly able to leave with the clothes they were wearing," he said.
"They were told they could wear their habits provided they put them in the post as soon as possible.
"It was a very harsh and uncharitable way to deal with the problem, but they have won the admiration of people for the way they have taken this decision and gone into the unknown."
Sr Mary Teresa, now the priory's acting Reverend Mother, said the nuns' decision "has come as a shock" but that they had a right to "follow their consciences".
"It's been so awful," she said. "It's been a very uncomfortable thing to have happened. "We're so devastated by all this."
In a joint statement, the nuns said: "On December 2, 2010, Sister Wendy Renate, Sister Jane Louise and Sister Carolyne Joseph left the Priory of Our Lady in Walsingham for a period of discernment with the intention of joining the Ordinariate when established.
"We ask prayers for ourselves and for the Sisters remaining at the Priory of Our Lady."
The nuns, who belong to the Society of St Margaret, voted four to three in favour of staying in the Church of England.
The three nuns who left have taken refuge in the Catholic Community of Our Lady of Walsingham in Brentwood diocese while they wait for the Ordinariate to be set up early next year.
Bishop Wheatley said that the decision for the nuns to leave had been reached amicably.
"I obviously realised that there was a lot of distress and it was clear that they all wanted the nuns to leave.
"The sisters thought that there could be some arrangement whereby they had a joint house together, but that was not a practical solution," he said.
"At the time it was a decision reached by mutual consent. They were gone within a week."
He denied that they had been forced to leave with nothing, adding: "the sisters said they can't go with nothing so set aside £1,000 for them".
Bishop Lindsay Urwin, administrator of the Anglican shrine, told The Tablet, a Catholic journal: "Because of the pain caused by their decision, they were asked to leave as soon as possible.
"We are very sad that the sisters have left, but I do not condemn their decision to join it."
"They saw it as a desertion and felt the younger nuns were using the house as a hostel until they left.
"It's not surprising they were upset as the expectation is that the younger ones should look after the older nuns because running the house and changing the beds are hardly jobs for women in their 80s."
However, Fr Peter Geldard, a Catholic convert who is now a chaplain at Kent University, said it was a shame that a temporary arrangement couldn't have been found for the younger nuns.
"In the purest sense they've left with nothing and were hardly able to leave with the clothes they were wearing," he said.
"They were told they could wear their habits provided they put them in the post as soon as possible.
"It was a very harsh and uncharitable way to deal with the problem, but they have won the admiration of people for the way they have taken this decision and gone into the unknown."
Sr Mary Teresa, now the priory's acting Reverend Mother, said the nuns' decision "has come as a shock" but that they had a right to "follow their consciences".
"It's been so awful," she said. "It's been a very uncomfortable thing to have happened. "We're so devastated by all this."
In a joint statement, the nuns said: "On December 2, 2010, Sister Wendy Renate, Sister Jane Louise and Sister Carolyne Joseph left the Priory of Our Lady in Walsingham for a period of discernment with the intention of joining the Ordinariate when established.
"We ask prayers for ourselves and for the Sisters remaining at the Priory of Our Lady."
The nuns, who belong to the Society of St Margaret, voted four to three in favour of staying in the Church of England.
The three nuns who left have taken refuge in the Catholic Community of Our Lady of Walsingham in Brentwood diocese while they wait for the Ordinariate to be set up early next year.
Bishop Wheatley said that the decision for the nuns to leave had been reached amicably.
"I obviously realised that there was a lot of distress and it was clear that they all wanted the nuns to leave.
"The sisters thought that there could be some arrangement whereby they had a joint house together, but that was not a practical solution," he said.
"At the time it was a decision reached by mutual consent. They were gone within a week."
He denied that they had been forced to leave with nothing, adding: "the sisters said they can't go with nothing so set aside £1,000 for them".
Bishop Lindsay Urwin, administrator of the Anglican shrine, told The Tablet, a Catholic journal: "Because of the pain caused by their decision, they were asked to leave as soon as possible.
"We are very sad that the sisters have left, but I do not condemn their decision to join it."
SIC: TC/UK