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About The Community of Reconciliation
The Community of Reconciliation at Washington National Cathedral is an ecumenical network of individuals seeking radical balance in life and a deepening commitment to reconciliation in the world. The Community engages the ancient Christian wisdom and practices of Benedictine spirituality as an alternative way of life to our often-fragmented existence. The Community opens us to harmony, to the sacred in our everyday lives, and to balanced living that fosters reconciliation in the world.
Through a constellation of resources and gatherings—at Washington National Cathedral and other communities of like intention—the Community helps individuals freshly interpret and integrate Benedictine spiritual foundations and practices into daily living. Individually and in community—beyond the walls of any monastery—shared wisdom and engaged participation center our lives in God and ground us as people of reconciliation in the world. The Community promises to bring the balance and harmony that one finds in a cloistered community to our own environment—family, the workplace, and daily life in a complex world.
On November 13, 2007, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu extended an inaugural blessing to The Community of Reconciliation at Washington National Cathedral. During his remarks, Archbishop Tutu articulated the need for “a new global reconciling spirituality.” The Community of Reconciliation seeks to respond to that need.
Washington National Cathedral formed the Community in partnership with the Friends of St. Benedict, a non-profit organization that offers pilgrimages, retreats, and community gatherings focused on applying Benedictine spirituality in today’s world.
Everyone is welcome to benefit from the support and resources of The Community of Reconciliation. All who seek balance in their lives and reconciliation in their world—from all faith traditions and perspectives—are welcome.
The Benedictine Way
The community and practice of the Community of Reconciliation is rooted in the teaching and model of St. Benedict, a fifth-century Christian saint who established a monastic community in the hills of the Italian countryside.
Those who chose and were chosen to live in this tiny monastery ordered their lives around a document known as the Rule of St. Benedict. The Rule offered a framework for living that addressed the spiritual and physical realities of day to day life. St. Benedict’s Rule has continued to shape the lives of spiritual seekers throughout the centuries. Monastic communities have understood the balance modeled by St. Benedict for more than 1500 years. Today, the Community honors this same wisdom, even as we live in our own communities beyond the walls of a monastic enclosure.
What is a Rule of Life?
For more than 15 centuries, Benedictine monastic communities have been guided by a simple document known as the Rule of St. Benedict. Deeply rooted in Judeo-Christian texts and tradition, the Rule continues to provide a model for lives of balance and reconciliation. The Rule has also been used by individuals associated with monastic communities and spiritual communities to help shape lives of balance within the world.
All who associate with the Community of Reconciliation are encouraged to create their own, unique Rule of Life. Each individual Rule re-contextualizes St. Benedict’s model and practices as a guiding framework for living in their own environment: family, workplace, and daily life in a complex world. These living frameworks help integrate the Benedictine practices of prayer, study, renewal, work, and hospitality into daily living.
A Rule of Life becomes the foundation for each individual’s spiritual journey. For those who choose to become Companions in the Community, each Rule is acknowledged and blessed by the Community, family, friends, and colleagues at a Service of Investiture and Blessing.
What is meant by Radical Balance?
St. Benedict offered a radical alternative to a culture that had lost its way. In a society that experienced upheaval, purposelessness, and the isolation of the individual, St. Benedict and his followers modeled lives of stability, meaning, and relationship. Their lifestyle ultimately changed their world and continues to transform ours today. Benedictine spirituality is not a private spirituality. It leads us to care for and passionately connect with the world in which we live.
For many of us, this way of life is “radically” different from our daily experience. Radical balance suggests that the intention and practice of a balanced life can become our contribution to an unstable world. Balance in our own lives nourishes and sustains our capacity for reconciliation in our lives, our families and relationships, our places of work and endeavor, and spiritually prepares us for the challenging world around us.
The Friends of St. Benedict
The Friends of St. Benedict was founded in 1997 to carry on the work of the Canterbury Cathedral Trust in America in the area of Benedictine spirituality. In 1982, the first Benedictine Experience, held at Canterbury Cathedral, convinced a core group that an ongoing structure for organizing Benedictine retreats and educating interested groups on Benedictine wisdom could address a real hunger. Since then, The Friends of St. Benedict and its predecessor have offered ecumenical programs for clergy and lay people to explore the Rule of Saint Benedict within a community of participants.
The Friends of St. Benedict continues to develop material on the Benedictine Way, and many churches have established Benedictine groups. An Episcopal diocese on the East Coast has a Benedictine diocesan clergy group. These and similar programs have changed the lives of thousands of people who have come to discover the way to finding a spiritually guided balance in their lives between work, rest, and prayer.
The Friends publishes a newsletter, Regula, twice a year. This provides a vehicle for sharing information about experiences, as well as reflections by faculty and participants, and gives notice of Benedictine programs and pilgrimages sponsored by the Friends of St. Benedict and other organizations.
The Friends of Saint Benedict’s primary mission is to introduce and sustain the Benedictine way of life to all persons. We offer opportunities through Benedictine Experiences and pilgrimages, through our newsletter and by promoting the Benedictine Way small group concept through parishes and other organizations.