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The Benedictine Sisters of Bethany (EBSB) is a religious order for women within the Anglican Church in Cameroon, West Africa. Its mother house (main convent) is in Bamenda. Its principal work is the care of orphaned street children.
The community's history begins with the Emmanuel Sisterhood, [1] an order of nuns in the Presbyterian Church of Cameroon. One of the sisters of this order, Sister Jane Mankaa (1960 - 2021), who joined the community aged 16, felt a strong calling years later to convert to the Anglican Communion and start new work with homeless street children. [2] She did so, but with the permission of the Bishop of Cameroon, she remained living under vows and adopted the Benedictine Rule. After studying convent management in the United States for one year and living with the Episcopal Community of St John Baptist in Mendham, New Jersey, Sister Jane returned to Cameroon. Women gathered around her to learn from her and the Benedictine Sisters of Bethany were born. The order became Cameroon's first Anglican religious community. [3] The community is called the "Benedictine Sisters of Bethany" (BSB), but sisters use the post-nominal initials EBSB, in which the "E" is a reference to "Emmanuel", the sisterhood in which Sr Jane first took vows. [4]
In Bamenda, a convent and dormitory with chapel and refectory have been constructed. Redeemer Nursery School is in operation on the compound. The Roberto Rovere Health Clinic is under construction on site to meet the needs of the children and area villagers. Plans are currently underway to construct Good Shepherd Academy, Anglican, a co-ed secondary/high school for 600 residential students in Bafut, Cameroon. [5] There are future plans to construct a residential home and hospice for children with AIDS.
Sister Jane felt a strong call to care for the many homeless children of Cameroon, some of whom were orphans (often due to their parents having died of AIDS), whilst others were simply more than their parents (with over-large families) could care for. The Good Shepherd Home in Bamenda, Cameroon now cares for 100 children who would otherwise be homeless. [6] They are given a loving family life, food, shelter, and protection from the sometimes violent life of the city. Today, the Home has four self-sustaining projects - a chicken farm, pig farm, bakery and three vegetable farms. In addition, Good Shepherd Home relies on donations of food from local people and donations of money from overseas supporters. [7]
Following a series of robberies and attacks that culminated in a raid by armed robbers who threatened to kill the sisters, a security system has been installed to alert the local neighbourhood if the convent is attacked. [8]
In 2010 the community opened a second convent and orphanage at Batibo, Cameroon, for special needs orphans, expanding the outreach and care provided. The Sisters of Bethany now care for approximately 150 orphaned children across the two sites, as well as many others who are fed or supported with medical care. [9] A second bakery and a store are the two self-sustaining projects of the Batibo home.
A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent. The term is often used interchangeably with religious sisters who do take simple vows but live an active vocation of prayer and charitable work.
Anglican religious orders are communities of men or women in the Anglican Communion who live under a common rule of life. The members of religious orders take vows which often include the traditional monastic vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, or the ancient vow of stability, or sometimes a modern interpretation of some or all of these vows. Members may be laity or clergy, but most commonly include a mixture of both. They lead a common life of work and prayer, sometimes on a single site, sometimes spread over multiple locations.
There are a number of Benedictine Anglican religious orders, some of them using the name Order of St. Benedict (OSB). Just like their Roman Catholic counterparts, each abbey/priory/convent is independent of each other. The vows are not made to an order, but to a local incarnation of the order, hence each individual order is free to develop its own character and charism, yet each under a common rule of life after the precepts of St. Benedict. Most of the communities include a confraternity of oblates. The order consists of a number of independent communities.
The Community of Christ the King (CCK) was an Anglican religious order of Benedictine nuns near Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1993, this enclosed and contemplative order was under the jurisdiction of the Anglican Church of Australia. The convent operated guest and retreat facilities and the sisters provided a ministry of spiritual direction.
The Community of the Sisters of the Love of God (SLG) is an Anglican religious order of contemplative nuns founded in 1906 within the Church of England.
The Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, also known as the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, is a Catholic religious order that was founded in 1835 by Mary Euphrasia Pelletier in Angers, France. The religious sisters belong to a Catholic international congregation of religious women dedicated to promoting the welfare of women and girls.
The Community of the Holy Cross (CHC) is an Anglican religious order founded in 1857 by Elizabeth Neale, at the invitation of Father Charles Fuge Lowder, to work with the poor around St Peter's London Docks in Wapping. The Community moved to a large convent in Haywards Heath.
The Society of Saint Margaret (SSM) is an order of women in the Anglican Church. The Order is active in England, Haiti, Sri Lanka, and the United States and formerly Scotland.
The Congregation of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan, colloquially known as the "Good Sams", is a Roman Catholic congregation of religious women commenced by Bede Polding, OSB, Australia’s first Catholic bishop, in Sydney in 1857. The congregation was the first religious congregation to be founded in Australia. The sisters form an apostolic institute that follows the Rule of Saint Benedict. They take their name from the well-known gospel parable of the Good Samaritan.
The Abbotsford Convent is located in Abbotsford, Victoria, an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Australia. The Convent is in a bend of the Yarra River west of Yarra Bend Park, with the Collingwood Children's Farm to its north and east, the river and parklands to its south and housing to its west.
The Society of All Saints Sisters of the Poor is a religious order of sisters in the Anglican Communion. It was founded in 1851 and is active in England and the United States.
The Community of the Holy Name (CHN) is an international Anglican religious order for women. The full name of the community is The Community of the Mission Sisters of the Holy Name of Jesus, usually shortened to Community of the Holy Name. The order currently operates in Europe and Africa. There is also an order operating in Australia with the same name which has an independent history, having been founded entirely separately.
Sisters of Bethany may refer to:
Augustinian nuns are named after Saint Augustine of Hippo and exist in the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches. In the Roman Catholic Church there are both enclosed monastic orders of women living according to a guide to religious life known as the Rule of St Augustine, and also other independent Augustinian congregations living in the spirit of this rule. In the Anglican Communion, there is no single "Order of St Augustine", but a number of Augustinian congregations of sisters living according to the Rule of St Augustine.
Former religious orders in the churches of the Anglican Communion are those communities of monks, nuns, friars, or sisters, having a common life and rule under vows, whose work has ended and whose community has been disbanded. In a very few cases this is due to the termination of the work for which the community was established, but in most cases it is due to amalgamation or the death of the final remaining member of the community.
The Society of the Sisters of Bethany (SSB) is an Anglican religious order. The sisters follow the Rule of St Augustine. The mother house is now the House of Bethany in Southsea.
Harriet Starr Cannon was a nun who founded the Sisterhood of St. Mary, one of the first orders of Augustinian nuns in the Anglican Communion and which remains dedicated to social service.
The Franciscan Hospitaller Sisters of the Immaculate Conception are members of a Roman Catholic religious institute of consecrated women, which was founded in Portugal in 1871. They follow the Rule of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis. and, as the term “hospitaller” indicates, focus their ministries on a spirit of medical care. Their charism emphasizes hospitality and service under the model of the Good Samaritan. In this congregation, the postnominal initials used after each Sister's name is "F.H.I.C."
The Dominican Congregation of Our Lady of the Rosary, better known as the Dominican Sisters of Sparkill, is an institute of religious sisters of the Third Order of Saint Dominic based in Sparkill, New York, which was founded in 1876. The congregation developed to care for indigent women but now works primarily in education as well.
The Community of the Holy Family (CHF) is an Anglican religious order of nuns, originally founded in the Church of England, but now active in Italy and the United States.
