Community of the Gospel

Last updated

The Community of the Gospel is a non-residential monastic community formed under the Canons of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America in the worldwide Anglican Communion, whose members apply basic monastic principles grounded in the Gospels to everyday living through devotion to prayer, study, and service.

The Community of the Gospel Cross given to all professed members Community of the Gospel Cross.jpg
The Community of the Gospel Cross given to all professed members

The organization is recognized as a Christian community in the Episcopal Church by the House of Bishops' Committee on Religious Communities. The Community of the Gospel is a full member of the National Association of Episcopal Religious Communities (NAECC). The community is listed in recent editions of Anglican Religious Life: A Year Book of Religious Orders and Communities in the Anglican Communion.

The community is composed of women and men over the age of 21, single or partnered, who are baptized members of a Christian denomination and claim the Gospels as the basis for their spirituality. Before becoming full members, individuals move through classic stages of monastic discernment as discerners, postulants, novices, and professed.

Members live and work in various parts of the United States and the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. They meet for a convocation annually. Full members of the community may take a religious name; use the title “Brother” or “Sister”; have voting rights on issues affecting the general welfare of the community; and wear a designated monastic habit. In addition to a constitution, by-laws, and customary that articulate the organizational understandings and definitions of the community, all members are bound by A Common Rule for Monastics of the Community of the Gospel.

The Community of the Gospel was founded in March 2007 by Br. Daniel-Joseph Schroeder, the community's first Guardian (superior). Guardians serve a term of four years and are elected by the professed members of the community. The Rt. Rev. Megan Traquair, Bishop of the Diocese of Northern California, is the Bishop Visitor.


Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican Communion</span> International Christian communion

The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other autocephalous national and regional churches in full communion. The traditional origins of Anglican doctrine are summarised in the Thirty-nine Articles (1571). The archbishop of Canterbury in England acts as a focus of unity, recognised as primus inter pares, but does not exercise authority in Anglican provinces outside of the Church of England. Most, but not all, member churches of the communion are the historic national or regional Anglican churches.

Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the largest branches of Christianity, with around 110 million adherents worldwide as of 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Episcopal polity</span> Hierarchical form of church governance

An episcopal polity is a hierarchical form of church governance in which the chief local authorities are called bishops. The word "bishop" here is derived via the British Latin and Vulgar Latin term *ebiscopus/*biscopus, from the Ancient Greek ἐπίσκοπος epískopos meaning "overseer". It is the structure used by many of the major Christian Churches and denominations, such as the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Church of the East, Anglican, Lutheran and Methodist churches or denominations, and other churches founded independently from these lineages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holy orders</span> Sacraments in some Christian churches

In certain Christian denominations, holy orders are the ordained ministries of bishop, priest (presbyter), and deacon, and the sacrament or rite by which candidates are ordained to those orders. Churches recognizing these orders include the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican, Assyrian, Old Catholic, Independent Catholic and some Lutheran churches. Except for Lutherans and some Anglicans, these churches regard ordination as a sacrament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nun</span> Member of a religious community of women

A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, 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.

Full communion is a communion or relationship of full agreement among different Christian denominations or Christian individuals that share certain essential principles of Christian theology. Views vary among denominations on exactly what constitutes full communion, but typically when two or more denominations are in full communion it enables services and celebrations, such as the Eucharist, to be shared among congregants or clergy of any of them with the full approval of each.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ecumenism</span> Cooperation between Christian denominations

Ecumenism – also called interdenominationalism, or ecumenicalism – is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjective ecumenical is thus applied to any non-denominational initiative that encourages greater cooperation and union among Christian denominations and churches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican Church in Japan</span> National Anglican church for Japan

The Nippon Sei Ko Kai, abbreviated as NSKK, sometimes referred to in English as the Anglican Episcopal Church in Japan, is the national Christian church representing the Province of Japan within the Anglican Communion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Akinola</span> Primate of the Church of Nigeria from 2000 to 2010

Peter Jasper Akinola is the former Anglican Primate of the Church of Nigeria. He is also the former bishop of Abuja and Archbishop of Province III, which covered the northern and central parts of the country. When the division into ecclesiastical provinces was adopted in 2002, he became the first Archbishop of Abuja Province, a position he held until 2010. He is married and a father of six.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican Province of America</span> American Continuing Anglican denomination

The Anglican Province of America (APA) is a Continuing Anglican church in the United States. The church was founded by former members of the Episcopal Church in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican religious order</span> Community in the Anglican Communion living under a common rule of life

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. Though many Anglicans are members of religious orders recognized by the Anglican Communion, others may be members of ecumenical Protestant or Old Catholic religious orders while maintaining their Anglican identity and parochial membership in Anglican churches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil</span> Church organization in Brazil

The Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil is the 19th province of the Anglican Communion, covering the country of Brazil. It is composed of nine dioceses and one missionary district, each headed by a bishop, among whom one is elected as the Primate of Brazil. The current Primate is Marinez Rosa dos Santos Bassotto. IEAB is the oldest non-Catholic church in Brazil, originating from the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation signed in 1810 between Portugal and the United Kingdom which allowed the Church of England to establish chapels in the former Portuguese colony. In 1890 American missionaries from the Episcopal Church established themselves in the country aiming to create a national church; unlike the English chapels, they celebrated services in Portuguese and converted Brazilians. The Anglican community of Brazil was a missionary district of the Episcopal Church until 1965, when it gained its ecclesiastical independence and became a separate province of the Anglican Communion. Twenty years later, IEAB began to ordain women. It preaches a social gospel, being known for its commitment to fight against problems that affect vast portions of the Brazilian society, such as social inequality, land concentration, domestic violence, racism, homophobia and xenophobia. Its stance as an Inclusive Church has caused both schisms and the arrival of former Catholics and Evangelicals in search of acceptance.

The Society of St John the Evangelist (SSJE) is an Anglican religious order for men. The members live under a rule of life and, at profession, make monastic vows of poverty, celibacy and obedience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Society Partners in the Gospel</span> United Kingdom-based charitable organization

United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG) is a United Kingdom-based charitable organization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican Church in North America</span> Anglican realignment province

The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is a Christian denomination in the Anglican tradition in the United States and Canada. It also includes ten congregations in Mexico, two mission churches in Guatemala, and a missionary diocese in Cuba. Headquartered in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, the church reported 977 congregations and 124,999 members in 2022. The first archbishop of the ACNA was Robert Duncan, who was succeeded by Foley Beach in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Franciscan spirituality in Protestantism</span> Influence of the spirituality of Catholic saint Francis in Protestant Christians

Emerging since the 19th century, there are several Protestant adherent and groups, sometimes organised as religious orders, which strive to adhere to the teachings and spiritual disciplines of Saint Francis of Assisi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Episcopal Church (United States)</span> Anglican denomination in the United States

The Episcopal Church (TEC), based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere, is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine provinces. The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church is Michael Bruce Curry, the first African American bishop to serve in that position.

A personal ordinariate for former Anglicans, shortened as personal ordinariate or Anglican ordinariate, is an ordinariate, a canonical structure within the Catholic Church established in order to enable "groups of Anglicans" and Methodists to join the Catholic Church while preserving elements of their liturgical and spiritual patrimony.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican Cistercians</span>

Anglican Cistercians are members of the Anglican Communion who live a common life together according to the Cistercian tradition. This tradition is usually dated to 1098 in origin. The term Cistercian is derived from Cistercium, the Latin name for the village of Cîteaux, near Dijon in eastern France. It was in this village that a group of Benedictine monks from the monastery of Molesme founded Cîteaux Abbey in 1098, with the goal of following more closely the Rule of Saint Benedict. Monks following this rule are known as Benedictine, and were at that time the dominant force in Christian monasticism. The monks of Cîteaux Abbey effectively founded a new order, but one that remains closely associated with the Benedictine Order. As a mark of their distinctive charism and rule, Cistercian monks have long worn white habits to distinguish themselves from Benedictine monks who wear black habits. Within Anglicanism there has historically been less interest in the Cistercian Order than certain other monastic Rules, although Cistercian life has been represented continuously in the Church of England since at least 1966.