Monks and Nuns in the Anglican Church of Canada?
by Bishop Barry Jenks
Brother Clark Berge was at Saint John’s speaking at the Lenten Noon Day Forum and on two evening study sessions. He’s a Franciscan monk who lives at a monastery on Long Island, New York. He guided us in reflections on Christian responsibility for the environment, on the labyrinth as a meditation tool and spoke of the way of life which is centred in the spirituality of Saint Francis of Assisi. Since being with us at Saint John’s, Brother Clark has been elected Minister General of the worldwide Anglican Franciscans.
Every so often Sisters Doreen, Jessica, and Amy occupy a pew and join in worship with us at Saint John’s. They are usually with a different congregation every Sunday and also try to attend special observances and celebrations. They belong to the Sisterhood of Saint John the Divine and live at Saint John’s House next door to Saint Peter’s Church in Lakehill.
As they go from place to place, the question that they are most frequently asked is, “Are you Roman Catholics?” It has led some people to realize that the presence of monks and nuns in our Church is one of the best kept secrets of the Anglican Church of Canada!
In North America there are twenty-three Anglican religious communities – five are men’s orders, one is for women and men, and seventeen are women’s orders. Two of the women’s orders are in Canada: the Sisterhood of Saint John the Divine (Toronto, Montreal, and Victoria) and the Community of the Sisters of the Church (Burlington). One of the men’s orders, the Holy Cross, is in Toronto while our Church maintains close associations with the Society of Saint John the Evangelist (the Cowley Fathers) in Boston. SSJE brothers, on a regular basis, travel to Canada to provide spiritual direction and to conduct Retreats.
Like Brother Clark, a few in each of the women’s and men’s orders are ordained clergy. Most, however, are lay women and men, who at some stage in their lives, have realized God’s call and guidance of them to live in community, in a special vocation of prayer and service, following a rule and the traditions of monastic life together with vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
The Sisterhood of Saint John the Divine was founded in Canada in 1884 by Hannah Grier Coome who, with a small group of women who felt similarly called to “personal sanctification and active charity,” established the convent in Toronto and began to work as a community with special concern for nursing, rehabilitation and care of the elderly as well as, at one time, taking charge of a school for girls. Five years ago the Sisterhood agreed to establish a branch house in Victoria and to become a praying, prayerful presence among us as they share in the life, ministry and mission of the people of the Diocese of British Columbia.
The other Canadian orders have their roots in England and have small branch houses throughout the world. (Brother Clark’s responsibility extends to Australia and New Zealand, the U.K. and Europe, some of the Pacific Islands as well as in San Francisco, New York, and Sao Paulo in the Americas.) While their main work is that of prayer, each of the orders has given special attention in being a resource to the Church and a servant to the needs of the wider community – especially those with particular needs, sufferings or marginalization.
While the life of the Sisters of Saint John the Divine seems to have been best known through the Convent in Toronto, the branch houses in Montreal and Edmonton, and the school in Regina, I find that there are people on Vancouver Island who have been lay associates of SSJD for decades. This has been the result of the Sisters’ continuing commitment to outreach among people of various parishes throughout the Diocese. As a resource to the Church, Sisters in past years – as in the present - have visited to conduct Quiet Days and Retreats and to share information about the Religious Life.
I believe that it is important for more people to know of the existence and work of the Religious Orders. I hope that you will pray for God’s continuing blessing upon them. If you have the resources, please consider ways of financial support to the Orders.
Is God guiding you to investigate becoming and Associate or Oblate of one of the Religious Communities? Do you know someone whom you might encourage to test their vocation as a nun or monk? Have you considered whether God might be calling you to do that yourself?
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