Not everyone is called to community, or at least, to the core groups. Some people need to be around communities which are strong and large enough to take in those who cannot for some reason make the big commitment. Some people are called to live orbital lives around communities.
God calls people to community, but in these times of the remnant, more people will need base communities in order to survive and pass on the Faith.
Some are called to support communities and be connected in some ways, such as those who are called to prayer and non-canonical "hermitages". Even in the 1970s, a movement of people who lived celibate, hermit-like lives began in the cities, people who decided that they could work and be in the world, but not of the world. Some created small "cenacles". Many were single.
Those who are strong enough to start communities can make allowances for such independent types, who want some involvement, but not total.
But, here is the key to communities. Living close to each other. By definition, even an urban community, must be built around proximity to each other. I would add that community members absolutely should try and live as close to each other as a walk.
The two communities wherein I was involved from age 23 to age 30 plus, were communities wherein people actually sold their houses when houses came up for sale next to another community house and people created "pods". These neighborhood pods formed the real basis for daily and regular contact. The communities divided the people up in groups of 100, as in the Old Testament, and then these groups came together weekly, like on a Thursday night, and three times a week with a larger "podding". Once a month, the entire community would meet-2,000 strong.
All of us had ministries and almost all had outside jobs to support the houses and those who worked primarily in the community directly. When I was in community, I was involved in five different ministries.
These were lay ministries, including street evangelization or outreach, as well as inter-community ministries, such as child-catechesis.
We were also involved in same-sex rescue, which is now, I think, illegal in some states.
The energy for the ministries came from private prayer and group prayer, discernment and a solid life in Christ. And, yes, the model was both monastic and early church models.
One other point. All these communities were patriarchies. This is a basic truth of community life, that the men have to be the leaders. There were some women leaders, but the basis was the age-old model of the Church-patriarchy.
No feminists were in these communities. No women priests wannabees were in these communities.
I left for three reasons. I was no longer called to be in the lay community. I wanted to go back to more traditional Catholic worship (TLM eventually, of course), and I am an intellectual. Too many communities fell into an anti-intellectualism, which can be the bane of communal life. I think Catholics have moved on and would not longer fall into that problem in 2014. I would hope so. The Church is more orthodox and more intellectual than it has been for years. Thank God for grace in these hard times.
I would say that a new ideal for the Catholic community today would be self-sufficiency. I had looked into off-grid housing years ago. These type of plans are legal in some places and illegal in others. But, any community starting up now must discuss the coming hard times. We have had plenty of warning.
