Norman's like mother, accepting new ecclesiastical benefice (9)

I believe the answer is:

commendam

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'ecclesiastical benefice' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are singular nouns.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?

'norman's like mother accepting new' is the wordplay.
'norman's like' becomes 'comme' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'mother' becomes 'dam' (female parent of an animal).
'accepting' is an insertion indicator (inserted letters are accepted).
'new' becomes 'n' (common abbreviation eg NT for New Testament).
'comme'+'dam'='commedam'
'commedam' placed around 'n' is 'COMMENDAM'.

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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