Eastern Order of the Protecting Veil
Our Fellow Companions
As a Monastic Community, we are proud to foster strong connections and collaborations with fellow Religious and Monastic Communities and Organizations throughout the wider Universal Church through Covenant of Ecumenical Partnership. These sacred partnerships serve as a unifying force, enabling us to extend our arms of welcome to individuals of all walks of life, embracing the diverse tapestry of God's children.
We are dedicated to creating an environment that offers traditional and inclusive Monastic and Religious life, ensuring that everyone has equal access to the rich spiritual heritage and transformative experiences that our Community embodies. By embracing open and affirming principles, we strive to empower individuals from all walks of life to explore, embrace, and contribute to the Monastic and Religious journey.
“Therefore we intend to establish a school for the Lord’s service” -The Prologue (45), Rule of Saint Benedict
The Contemporary Benedictines of Peace is a canonically erected religious Order of the United American Catholic Church, founded in 2005 by Bishop Tony Hash, OSB. The Order seeks to be a contemporary expression of Saint Benedict’s, “Ora et Labora,” in the world while upholding stability and conversion of life.
What little we know of Benedict comes to us from Pope Saint Gregory the Great, who is said to have received the knowledge from four of his disciples. Benedict is born in Italy, along with his twin sister Scholastica, to a wealthy family around the year 480. After being taught locally in Nursia, Benedict goes to Rome for further education. He enters a scene of crumbling empire and moral decay. Eventually, unable to live in the city, Benedict retreats to the small town of Enfide (modern Affile). He will later live as a hermit for three years in the hills.
The knowledge of his holiness spreads, and villagers begin to seek him out. A nearby monastery even begs him to become their Abbot. His zeal for the monastic life was too much for the monks, and eventually, they attempted to poison him. Through a miracle, this did not come to fruition. Benedict once again retires to the life of a hermit. Numerous monks and priests sought him out and eventually began to found monasteries around the region.
It is at one of these monasteries that Benedict writes his Rule for Monks. The Rule is not extreme but rather well-balanced and is in use to this day in monasteries and convents around the world. There are numerous miracles recounted in his life, the mending or broken objects, exorcisms, and even the raising of the dead. Still, it is his Regula is the one that has touched the most lives.
Our Order is non-residential by nature but based on community life. Jesus tells us, “The greatest among you will be your servant.” (Matthew 23:11) We hope, in some simple way to serve humanity. We do so by praying the Divine Office and celebrating the mass and sacraments for all of God’s children. The Benedictines of Peace desire to be a force of God’s peace, mercy, and love in the world and do so by living the Rule and being active in the world.
More information on the Contemporary Benedictines of Peace Here
The Companions of the Holy Spirit
The Companions of the Holy Spirit are a Religious Order rooted in New Monasticism and open to Christians from all denominations. Our way of life is committed to loving God and neighbor, working and ministering within our local communities, and praying without ceasing.
Jesus said, "Come, follow Me" (Matthew 4:19). Our order is committed to the example of the early followers of Jesus, the Church at Pentecost, the early Christian monastics (such as the desert fathers/mothers), and contemporary New Monastic communities. We are an order open to all followers of the Way of Jesus Christ. We are welcoming to all, regardless of anyone’s denominational background, political party, class, race, gender, sexual orientation, or age. We are all one in Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-14, Galatians 3:26-28, Colossians 3:11).
"A hermit said, ‘This is the life of a monk: work, obedience, meditation, not to judge others, not to speak evil, not to murmur. For it is written, “You who love God, hate the thing that is evil” (Ps. 97:10). This is monastic life: not to live with the wicked, not to see evil, not to be inquisitive, not to be curious, not to listen to gossip, not to use the hands for taking, but for giving; not to be proud in heart or bad in thought, not to fill the belly, in everything to judge wisely. That is the life of the true monk.’" -Sayings of the Desert Fathers
More information on the Companions of the Holy Spirit Here
The Companions of the Holy Family
While the Companions of the Holy Family is a new Religious Order, we are rooted in the tradition of the Community of the Holy Family, founded in 1896 in the Church of England. The Community of the Holy Family was founded by its foundress, Mother Agnes Mason. The Community of the Holy Family was a teaching order, and the most scholarly one in the Church of England. Greek was required and Hebrew encouraged for the Profession so they could tutor in the Lambeth Degree they helped start so women could have degrees in theology. They were part of the Oxford Movement, creating an openness between Catholicism and Anglicanism!
The Community of the Holy Family was dreamed up in an olive tree in Florence and started in Red Lion Square of the Pre-Raphaalites. They taught in India at Naini Tal, the Mother Foundress' brother teaching in South Africa, ordaining Black priests at Umtata's Bede College, in the tradition that would continue with Trevor Hudleston and Desmond Tutu against apartheid.
In 2016, our Mother Superior studied under these Nuns. She took this knowledge, and being a huge champion of LGBTQ+ Rights and full inclusion in the Church, and with Convergent Catholic Communion Leadership and a few other Sisters, helped form The Companions of the Holy Family!
More information on the Companions of the Holy Family Here