NAECC Affiliated Communities
Members
canonically recognized communities - click on the title of a community to check out their website
Founded in the tradition of the Episcopal Church, with a Celtic spirit. We strive to be an inclusive community, welcoming men and women, clergy and lay, married, single, or partners in a committed relationship. Members of the fellowship may live in their own homes or in groups as the ability for that arises. Each member must be self supporting, and we are bound to each other by common ideals and a commitment to prayer and service. Our primary ministries focus on catechesis, pastoral care and spiritual direction.
The Anglican Order of Preachers (AOP)
The Anglican Order of Preachers is an apostolic religious community inspired by the spiritual tradition founded by Saint Dominic de Guzman in the thirteenth century. It was not until the last years of the twentieth century that an expression of Dominican spirituality and life could be found outside of the Roman Catholic Church. The Order is composed of men and women from around the world and various provinces of the Anglican Communion and her sister Churches. The Anglican Order of Preachers is a religious community of men and women, lay and ordained, celibate and married, committed to the Dominican path of Christian Discipleship.
The Brotherhood of Saint Gregory (BSG)
Members of the Brotherhood follow a common rule and serve the church on parochial, diocesan, and national levels. Members—clergy and lay, without regard to marital status—live individually, in small groups, or with their families. They support themselves and the community through their secular or church-related work, making use of their God-given talents in the world while not being of the world. The trust that all labor and life can be sanctified is summed up in the community's motto: Soli Deo Gloria, To God Alone the Glory.
The Canon Communities of St. Benedict (OSBCn)
The Canon Communities of St. Benedict (OSBCn) provide a contemporary Anglican framework for the living out of Benedictine Christianity. It is, in part, a recovery of the English tradition of canon communities that flourished before the English Reformation but is also an adaptation of St. Benedict’s Rule suitable for Christian living in today’s world. The order of canons, founded by Fr. Martin-Joseph, Fr. Warren and the late Bishop Creighton Robertson, makes it possible for men and women of the twenty-first century to better grow into the stature of Christ by living the vowed life according to St. Benedict’s Rule.
The Society of the Community of Celebration (SCC)
We’re different from traditional orders: we don’t wear habits, for instance, and our membership includes men and women, married and single, adults and children, clergy and laity. Our rule of life is a modified Benedictine Rule. At the heart of our life is the daily discipline of worship prescribed by the Book of Common Prayer. Our commitment to worship, as the center of life, is the source of our identity, our ministry, and our music. Our mission is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ by living in community and offering ourselves in service to the Church and to the world. We are committed to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as ourselves; to strive for justice and peace among all people; and to respect the dignity of every human being.
Community of Francis and Clare (CFC)
The Community of Francis and Clare is a contemporary vowed community of religious women
and men who live a common life of prayer and service within The Episcopal Church, its
Communion Partners, and the worldwide Anglican Communion. We seek to follow Jesus in the
Franciscan tradition by living simply and humbly, serving and praying with and for the
marginalized members of our communities and by helping to re-build the church in our day to
day contexts. As a contemporary expression of the Franciscan tradition, members are lay and
clergy, partnered or single, live individually or in common with their families and support
themselves through a secular or church-related employment. We have diverse ministries in our
communities, as the Spirit and the needs of the church lead us.
The Community of the Mother of Jesus (CMJ)
The Community of the Mother of Jesus is a religious community for vowed people in the monastic tradition of the Episcopal Church. We follow Jesus by imitating the model of discipleship lived by Mary, his mother. We minster to our neighbors who are in need and profess the vows of Justice, Tenderness, Humility and Contemplation. We follow a community rule called, Mary's Way of Discipleship and pray the Daily Office and the Rosary. We also raise our voice to call on society and institutions to share from their abundance with those without while engaging in a rich prayer-life.
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We live and work in the world and come together frequently to experience community through prayer, study, service and the Eucharist. We welcome all persons, lay and ordained, regardless or age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status or socio-economic status.
Facebook and Instagram: @cmjreligious
Community of the Gospel (CG) Founded in 2007, the Community of the Gospel’s members express their baptismal vows through prayer, study, and service. The community is composed of men and women, single and married, lay and ordained. At the close of 2020 there were sixteen professed members plus twelve novices and postulants from across the United States and the Bahamas. An additional group of “Friends of the CG” accompany and support the community with prayer, finances, and occasional service. They participate in the CG’s robust calendar of virtual worship and study events, including prayer vigils around issues of societal concern (the coronavirus pandemic or ending racist violence); Bible study; and exploration of monastic history. The rule of the community is “A Common Rule for Monastics of the Community of the Gospel.” Individual members create personal rules of life. The official CG prayer book is the Book of Common Prayer but members draw on resources from diverse faith traditions to nurture their spiritual lives. The CG welcomes like-minded baptized Christians from non-Anglican backgrounds as both members and Friends of the CG. All members and Friends are encouraged to engage deeply in parish and diocesan life.
The Community of the Paraclete (CP)
The Paracletian Community lives the Gospel of Jesus Christ, builds positive, loving relationships, values every person as a unique image of God, welcomes diversity, listens, supports spiritual growth, communicates openly and honestly, practices wise stewardship, including simplicity of lifestyle, serves in ministries of reconciliation, especially with the poor and marginalized, encourages all members to participate fully as partners and supports parish life. We honor the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, by preparing ourselves to strengthen and comfort others and by welcoming the Spirit's guiding presence within us as the mind of Christ. We follow the Holy Spirit as we discern the Spirit's will both individually and collectively.
The Companions of Saint Luke-Benedictine (OSB)
The Companions of St. Luke ~ OSB are a community whose pursuit of union with God is hallmarked by individual prayer life, communal prayer offices, work and ministry. The community is rooted in the ancient tradition of the Rule of St. Benedict. Through the 1500 years since the writing of the Rule, Benedictines have taken the model of the Rule and modified it to meet historical and cultural needs. The Companions of St. Luke ~ OSB continue in this tradition by opening new possibilities for monastic life in the new millennium while remaining a school for the Lord's service.
No longer bound by monastery walls, the Lord's service is exercised by the Companions in the world, in God's creation. In Chapter 4 of the Rule, St. Benedict encourages his followers to "relieve the lot of the poor, clothe the naked, visit the sick, bury the dead and console the sorrowing." These "tools for good works" are a beginning point for Christian living. Each Companion determines, based on their own skills and interests, how these "tools for good works" will be practiced in their own lives. The threefold Benedictine vows call each Companion to a life of conversion and, through conversion, a life of reconciliation and healing with God and our neighbor.
The Little Sisters of Saint Clare (LSSC)
The Little Sisters of St. Clare is an Episcopal community of women who seek to live a contemplative life of prayer, study, and service in the joyful tradition of St. Clare and St. Francis. We guide our lives by the three-fold vows of simplicity, fidelity, and purity.
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Our faith is deeply rooted in our baptismal covenant. Our call is seen in our individual and communal actions. As a community we express our response to God's call which interprets monastic traditions in a contemporary way. We demonstrate our Franciscan roots in an attitude of respect for all, including deep care and consideration for each other. We also individually serve God in the world by guiding children and youth; caring for the poor, the ill, and the marginalized; stewarding the environment; and engaging in social and restorative justice.
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We do not live in a common house, but rather live independently. We gather daily for prayer virtually. We also gather as a community monthly online to learn and celebrate together the abiding love and joy St. Clare and St. Francis had for the Lord and all of creation.
Please visit our website for contact information.
The Order of the Ascension was founded in 1983 as a dispersed Benedictine community.
Professed Members take a life Promise “To seek the presence of Jesus Christ in the people,
things and circumstances of life through stability, obedience and conversion of life.” The
Order’s Charism is the development of parish churches grounded in Anglican pastoral and
ascetical theology, especially Benedictine spirituality. We also draw on the fields of
organization development and organizational psychology. Our charism undergirds our
community's life of liturgical worship, the spiritual dynamics of the Promise, and our
mutual friendship.
Rivendell is a dispersed Christian community whose way of life includes particular patterns of prayer, worship, and community life and an inclination of our hearts and lives toward embracing the fullness of the Gospel in its radical implications for ourselves, the Church and the world. Underlying the disciplines of prayer, worship, and community life is the desire and intention to give ourselves wholly, unreservedly, and continually to God. In accordance with common Christian tradition, members of The Rivendell Community seek to respond to Jesus’ invitations to holy simplicity and generosity of spirit (poverty), ordering all human relationships around the Love of God (chastity), and adherence to the Gospel and in accordance to the Rule and Central Intentions of The Rivendell Community (obedience). Through its Rule, members seek to live Eucharistically, in continual self-offering to God in thanksgiving, intercession and adoration. Among its central interests, the Community seeks to provide lay and ordained leadership for smaller churches and to create and serve houses of prayer and hospitality. Rivendell also supports ministries of spiritual discipleship and social justice in the communities where its members live. Members are women and men, single and married, ordained and lay.
St. Hildegard's Community (SHC)
Inspired by Hildegard of Bingen and the divine feminine, St. Hildegard’s Community reaches out to connect in the Beloved Community, open to the wisdom of other faith traditions, encircling and healing Mother Earth, We seek to create a dispersed community that is gentle and generous: nurturing relationships and intimacy with the sacred while fostering accountability, healing, and growth. Our spiritual life is rooted in a traditional three-fold pattern of contemplation, action for social justice, and intimacy in community. We at St. Hildegard’s recognize the Spirit calling us to boldness and passion, inclusivity and authenticity. Belonging to the larger Body of Christ, we are called to help recreate the church for the future.
The Sisters of Saint Gregory (SSG)
The Sisters of Saint Gregory is a canonically recognized community of women in the Episcopal Church who have been called together by God to live the vowed life in a diversity of styles and spiritualities in the world. We live intentionally dispersed, coming together twice a year for convocation, retreat, business, fellowship and worship.
We are women of prayer; lovers of God; servants of the holy, catholic and apostolic Church. The community is comprised of lay and clergy, young and old, fit and feeble, introvert and extrovert, contemplative and active; married, widowed, divorced, single, or partnered. Some live in families, some apart.
We bear witness in the church and in the world that the universal call to holiness may still be experienced as a vocation of uncommon attentiveness to the things of God. Though fully aware of our brokenness and spiritual poverty, we invite and nurture the indwelling of the Holy Trinity in our hearts, as we pray to be bowls of compassion poured out for a broken world, and participants in God's recreation of all things.
The Society of St. Anna the Prophet (SSAP)
Founded in 2005, the Society of St. Anna the Prophet (SSAP) is a vowed community of lay and ordained elder women in the Episcopal Church. The Society is dedicated to Godly aging and ministry with elders and the young. Members are dispersed and must be over the age of 50. The vows of the SSAP are simplicity, creativity, and balance. Inspired by aged Anna in the Gospel of Luke who recognized Jesus as the Savior, the motto of the SSAP is percipere et proclamare (perceive and proclaim). Our proclamation is centered around the mystery of the incarnation and the celebration of childhood and old age as seasons of divine revelation. The Society includes the “young old” who are still working, women who have retired, and also women who are themselves living in care. The headquarters of the SSAP, and a majority of the Annas, are in the Diocese of Atlanta, but sisters are active in four other dioceses around the country. For more information, visit the website annasisters.org
The Third Order, Province of the Americas, the Society of Saint Francis (TSSF)
In 1205, Francis of Assisi was called by God to rebuild the Church. Early in his ministry, Francis recognized the need to include people from all walks of life within his movement of reform and renewal. The work of following Christ in humility, love and joy, which is the vocation of all Christians, could not be restricted to the traditional life of the Friars and Sisters. This was true in the thirteenth century and it remains so today.
The Worker Brothers of the Holy Spirit (WBHS)
The Worker Sisters of the Holy Spirit (WSHS)
The Worker Sisters and Brothers of the Holy Spirit is a Covenant Community which seeks to respond to God’s call through the power of the Holy Spirit, participate in Jesus Christ’s vision of unity, become his holy people, show forth Fruit, and in obedience to his command, go forth into the world. It offers women and men, regardless of marital status, a path for individual spiritual growth through a life commitment to a Rule which provides an opportunity to experience prayer, worship, becoming, discovery, belonging, relating, commitment, and mission.
Associates
communities seeking canonical recognition
The Benedictine Priory of St Mary (OSB)
The Benedictine Priory of St. Mary is a dispersed Episcopal religious community. We welcome those who identify as women, lay or ordained, single or married, who wish to seek union with God and one another through life under the Rule of St. Benedict. As a dispersed community we live in our own homes and have various kinds of ministry in the world and in the Church. We remain in close contact through the use of technology and our annual in person Gathering.
Inquiries are welcome. Email us here.
Facebook: @PrioryStMaryOSB
Companions of Our Lady of Walsingham (OLW)
Companions of Our Lady of Walsingham is a modern Marian and Benedictine Monastic Community, and heirs of the Anglican Tradition and Benedictine Monasticism.
The Holy Rule of St. Benedict is a foundation source of inspiration and spirituality. We profess the ancient Monastic vows of Stability, Obedience and Conversion of Life. In imitation of Our Lady of Walsingham and Saints Benedict and Scholastica, we seek to live our the charism of hospitiality as we, "Welcome all as Christ."
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Companions include lay and ordained women and men of diverse ages, social statuses, sexual orientations and gender identities.
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Companions may be married, partnered, single or celibate. The balance of the Via Media is our guiding principle: "All may, some should, none must."
The Communion of the Mystic Rose (CMR)
A contemplative fellowship of spiritual pilgrims in pursuit of the inner flowering of Wisdom; a vowed religious community of the Episcopal Church with deep roots in early Christian mysticism. The heart of our charism is the pursuit of theosis (‘divinization’) through the deep inner work of the mystical Christian life, as inherited from the source-waters of monastic tradition and the ancient Alexandrian school of theology. We strive for holistic, life giving transformation of ourselves and the world around us in the context of a fresh, loving, contemplative, and expansive expression of vowed religious life, realistically integrated into our twenty-first century context without compromising the depth or demands of our vocations. Our lives are consecrated to the Blessed Mother, and devoted to continual study, meditation, and the inner arts of spiritual development, toward the birth of Divine Wisdom in the heart: the summum bonum of all human endeavor.
The New Benedictine Community (TNBC)
We are a contemporary expression of an ancient monastic tradition—"a school of the Lord's service" (Prologue to the Rule of St. Benedict). We are a dispersed, vowed Benedictine community, incorporating the best of what is old and what is new—ecumenical and emergent but maintaining a timeless balance of prayer, service, and community. We seek to live in the presence of God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; the One who creates, redeems, and brings to fulfillment. We remain open to new ideas and expressions of all kinds, whether religious, political, social, artistic, intellectual, or cultural. The whisper of God is present in all things, new or old, and new things may lead us to new ways of experiencing the reign of God among us. Because of our conviction that St. Benedict speaks wisdom to us today, we choose to be a community that lives out his values of prayer, service, hospitality, community, study and humility.
Companions of Dorothy the Worker (CDW)
The Companions of Dorothy the Worker is an ecumenical Christian community, dispersed or under one roof; encouraging each other and supporting each other in ministry; living by the work of our own hands; depending on God as we strive to make God’s love felt in the queer
community, which has been marginalized by the Church and the World. We accomplish this ministry by being active companions, living and participating with the people we serve; modeling Christ’s love.
The Order of Christ the Saviour (OCS)
The Order of Christ the Saviour is a Dominican dispersed community that is devoted to the academic study, teaching, and practice of Anglican deliverance ministry-- intended to share Christ’s merciful healing and liberation in the modern world. The Order is primarily influenced by the Rule of St. Augustine, and its Friars and Sisters are vowed to tenets of traditional Dominican spirituality in regular observance of daily prayer, life-long formation, community service, and frequent participation in the sacramental life of the Church. Members are confirmed communicants in good standing within an Anglican denomination in communion with the See of Canterbury.​
Observers
not currently seeking canonical recognition
The Order of Saint Francis (OSF)
The Order of Saint Francis is an active, Apostolic Christian religious First Order within the
Franciscan tradition. The OSF admits members of the Anglican Communion (and church in full
communion). Rather than living in an enclosed communal setting, OSF brothers live independently in
different parts of the world, with ministries based on the needs of their local communities. Members
are baptized men who have been confirmed within the Anglican Communion, and who voluntarily
commit to living by a set of vows for a term of years or for life. The OSF is a dispersed order, which
welcomes men with dual vocations (Lay as well as clergy). Brothers may also be married or single and
can be found in the United States, Canada, and Italy.
A growing community where Christ and recovery are shared and the lives of addicts transformed.
Our Principles are that we draw closer to God and to one another through the practice of Two Way Prayer and the Four Standards of Absolute Honesty, Purity, Unselfishness, and Love; we follow the ancient, monastic tradition of carrying the Good News to those living on the edges of society - be they spiritual, social, or economic; We practice “the spirituality of descent” known as kenosis; the same “self-emptying” found in the mind of Christ and at the heart of the 12-Step journey; and We keep alive for new generations the Christian roots of the 12-Steps through our personal Service Fields to which we are called. Sam Shoemaker Community is a ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas.