From the Assistant Bishop
Religious Communities
– the more you look, the more you find
The Rt Revd Kate Wilmot, Assistant Bishop
People are sometimes surprised to know that there are fourteen different religious communities recognised within the Anglican Church of Australia.
These are:
The Community of Contemplative Prayer
The Community of the Holy Name
The Community of Saint Barnabas and
Saint Cecilia
The Community of the Sisters of the Church
The Little Brothers of Francis
The Oblates of Christ the King
The Oratory of the Good Shepherd
The Order of Preachers
The Order of Saint Benedict
The Sisters of the Incarnation
The Society of the Sacred Advent
The Society of the Sacred Mission
The Society of Saint Francis
The Third Order of Society of Saint Francis
Some of these have just one or two members remaining, while others are growing. Some communities are centred around a specific location while others are “dispersed” which means members live individually and meet together one or more times a year.
If we scratch the surface of some of our key institutions in the Diocese of Perth, we find the work and witness of religious communities. Perth College was founded by the Community of the Sisters of the Church and Parkerville Children and Youth Care (originally Parkerville Children’s Home) was begun by two CSC sisters housed in a farm shed in the bush at Parkerville.
Before Wollaston Theological College was founded, many Perth clergy were trained in South Australia or overseas by the Society of the Sacred Mission.
An increasingly popular way for people to become involved in the life of religious communities is as tertiaries or oblates. These people remain in their secular lives and employment but commit to the organisation after a process of formation. The Order of St Benedict and the Third Order of the Society of St Francis have members living as laity and clergy within the Diocese of Perth.
It was a privilege to be with Brother Martin Bishop SSM as he formalised his relationship to the Society of the Sacred Mission in May this year (see Brother Martin’s article in this issue).
There are some opportunities within Perth Diocese to receive a bursary to explore a vocation to the religious life. In the first instance enquiries should be made to bpgnamma@perth.anglican.org.