Someone asked me today to write more about community.
Please follow the tags. There are many posts on this subject. But, here are some helpful hints.
And, some are from St. Benedict and St. Bernard's ideas.
I shall list them as points.
1) The core group must be under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Church. If possible, a priest from the diocese should be involved with the permission of the Bishop.
2) The core group must be orthodox Catholics, not embracing any heresy or any deviations from Church teaching. This would include the priest.
3) Those in the core group could not be those in irregular marriages or not practicing Catholics. The reason for this is that the leaders must be pursuing holiness and cannot be in mortal sin.
4) There has to be a shared common philosophy or rule, and a shared common goal. Not all communities have the same ministry, for example. Just as religious orders have a charism to teach or preach or to pray in intercession, there should be a clear sharing of the charism. For example, some communities made be called to do street ministry, or publishing, or pro-life work.
5) All members at first should be practicing Catholics, in good standing with the Catholic Church, again, for stability and growth. The strong lead the weak and the weaker ones with problems which are serious can be ministered to by those who have the maturity and ability to reach out to them. For example, single moms would need help, and the elderly who are alone.
6) A "personal relationship" with Christ and His Mother is essential to the leaders, and to those who are building community. The community is not about the people but Christ.
7) Time and commitment must be a priority. Those who cannot or do not want to make the community a priority are not yet ready or simply not called to it. There is no value judgement here, as some are called and some are not. But, people should be seeing each other on a regular basis, such as in each other's houses for meals, and weekly meetings, or meetings twice a week, including prayer.
8) No wives without husbands and no husbands without wives involved can be involved. The marriage takes precedence over community However, parents have a right to bring along their children and if there is not order in the family to do this, the family should not be part of the core group
9) Singles can and should be part of the core group only if they have a spiritual director and only if their own lives are in order, which means they are living in sanctifying grace.
10) The community is not the goal but Christ is. Once the community becomes the idol, the call to serve and to be Christ in the world gets lost. Some religious communities have lost "their First Love", Christ, by making community the idol. I have seen this happen.
11) Time, finances and worldly goods must be shared to the extent that people want to share them, but all should share according to need, without making those who are poor identured slaves. The early communities did not have interior "class structures."
12) Levels of involvement are good to outline from the start, such as those who want total community, those who only want part, and those who want to be connected but in a lesser manner. These levels can be determined by the community, but at some point, there should be either a movement to more involvement or movement out of the community.
This was my personal experience of being in a lay community for seven years and then when I was asked to make a permanent commitment, I discerned that God wanted me elsewhere.
13) Some people will be permanently celibate to serve and work in their jobs and in the community. This is a good
14) All share in some work according to call and ability, but no one should be "above" setting up for meetings or making food. A "servant school" to learn how to serve each other is a possibility. We had this in my community and it was great fun as well as a good lesson in service.
15) Respect for those who are older, more spiritually mature and advanced into different types of ministry must be shown. For example, some widows or single women or men could be called to almost full-time prayer for the sake of the ministries.
16) Communities are not just for extroverts. And, sensitivity to personality types means that no one should be forced into the same molds of behavior or needs.
17) Daily communal prayer is essential, even if just the rosary.
18) Daily personal study of the Scriptures, Catholic reading, and personal prayer time, must be made available for all involved, including moms.
19) Perfect honesty must be maintained and all manipulation absolutely forbidden. A "cult of personality" reveals a sick community.
20) Communities must not allow cliques. Period.
21) There should be no "obedience" issues, as this is what causes a community to become a cult. Some people could be in obedience to their spiritual directors, if this is their relationship. Wives, of course, in the Catholic Church, are under obedience to their husbands. But, no one else should be in a lay community. Obedience is the sign of a religious order.
To be continued............more later
