May 20, 2011
By Sharon Sheridan

Members of a new churchwide Episcopal women's organization are working to build a community of prayer and mutual support as they seek to live out the Baptismal Covenant.

The Episcopal Community, incorporated in Atlanta in February 2010, will gather May 27-29 in Fairhope, Alabama, for a retreat and installation of new members and "circles," or local chapters. To join, women complete a six-month study of Benedictine spirituality and vow to observe the community's rule of life, committing to daily prayer and service and regular spiritual and Bible study.

"We want to be together in community as Episcopal women, following the Baptismal Covenant," said Bev Ruebeck of Indianapolis, co-chair of the first of what the group intends to be triennial national gatherings, which will coincide with the Episcopal Church's General Convention in Indianapolis in 2012.

The community's chaplain, Bishop Philip Duncan of the Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast, sees it as a valuable new church organization for women.

"This community is an opportunity for women to gather, build community and look at how it is that prayer can influence what they're doing and [use] prayer as one of the means by which they gather for worship and praise of God," he said. He asks members to pray for major diocesan events. "And then we have a station at our [diocesan] convention where we have a chapel, and there's always somebody in there praying for those of us who are meeting."

He asks members of another women's church group, the Daughters of the King, and a men's group, the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, to do the same, he added.

Most Episcopal Community members previously belonged to the Daughters of the King, and some retain membership in both, community leaders said. They decided to form a new organization after the Daughters became increasingly ecumenical, they said. They wanted a clear connection and accountability to the Episcopal Church, and they also wanted more accountability for members as they live out their vows, they said.

An initial group of about 15 women took final vows last September in Indianapolis, and a second group in January in Florida, said Patti Joy Posan, community scribe. She estimated the community has 45 members and a similar number engaged in the study.

"We're not out proselytizing for members. We are here, but quietly," she said. "In my diocese, which is Tennessee, there's one other person that's a member and one in study."

With an office at Sewanee: University of the South in Tennessee, Posan is executive director of the U.S. chapter of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, an Anglican mission agency. "Even though it's a university community ... I sometimes feel isolated," she said.

She looks to the Episcopal Community for a sense of connection with other women during her faith journey. "To be able to come together with [this] group and have these women be a part of my life is very important to me," she said. "These women are all following this path along with me."

The group hopes to harness modern electronic technologies to allow members to connect, communicate, study and learn together, Posan said. Three women in different parts of the country already did their pre-membership study together via Skype, "so that they weren't doing their study in solitary."

Ruebeck sees the yearning for meaningful personal connections reflected in places like Facebook. Subscribers are "telling people when they had a cup of coffee," she said. "What it says to me is loneliness. It's connection, wanting to share their life with somebody."

If the Episcopal Community can foster a virtual community where members can share their lives, she said, "I think it would be huge."

A subgroup of members has been developing a rule of life for the community, which likely will be presented at the May gathering, Posan said.

The goal is to provide standard training and accountability for members, no matter where they live, explained co-convener Sue Schlanbush of Chesterfield, Michigan.

"We're still very much in process," she added. "We have a lot of work to do to get where we want to be in the long run, but we're on the move."

The "rule" won't be a set of prescribed prayers and actions, but more a guide to a daily life of spirituality, community leaders said.

"It's living out the Baptismal Covenant in your life day by day, agreeing to follow the vows that were taken as a child, that you reaffirmed at confirmation, and now you're reaffirming to live your life that way," Posan said.

How you do that depends upon your circumstances, said Ruebeck, whose father died last year. "I feel like taking care of my mother and being the best daughter right now [that] I can is a big part of my Baptismal Covenant. That sort of thing is the new piece to my rule of life."

Besides prayer and formation, the group is committed to service, members said. In November, the group established three funds, a St. Clare of Assisi fund for women and children of poverty that recently held its first ingathering; a St. Mary Magdalene fund to provide financial assistance toward membership; and a Tribute Fund to honor others.

At General Convention, the community plans to create a "peace garden" in the exhibit hall, building on an idea that grew from a meeting of the former Council for Women's Ministries and was introduced at the last two conventions, Schlanbush recounted. Members of the Daughters of the King â€" of which she is a past president â€" staffed it, and she and other spiritual directors committed to spending time there. "Basically, we wanted it to be a quiet place of prayer in the middle of all the busyness of General Convention. ... Each year, it's grown more."

It's a valuable ministry, said Duncan, who has visited the previous gardens. "This is an opportunity to go in, and if I'm having a particular concern that I would like others to pray about, I can have people intentionally do that."

"It's also ... in the midst of that hubbub, a place of quiet and place where you can just sit, and if you want to meditate or pray, you can do that," he said.

Community members also will pray over the chairs and leave prayer cards on the tables in the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies.

"We are about prayer and service and connecting," Ruebeck said.

Potential members complete a six-month study using the book Benedict's Toolbox: The Nuts and Bolts of Everyday Benedictine Living by the Rev. Jane Tomaine, an Episcopal priest and retreat leader from the Diocese of Newark.

In learning about Benedictine spirituality, the group's leaders were excited about how "it focused on the present moment and finding God in the ordinary, staying connected with people, listening for God, the form of hospitality, the infusion of the holy into what we do when we work," said Tomaine, who led a retreat at their September gathering.

In keeping with the community's goals, she noted, the book is grounded in the Baptismal Covenant, and the Episcopal tradition is rooted in Benedictine spirituality. "The whole tradition of the daily office is rooted in the Benedictine spirituality of pre-Reformation England."

Initially, she didn't know the community had chosen her book for its study, she said. "The other thing about the spirituality is that it is so focused on how to live in community, and so following it in a group ... creates an environment that's supportive for one's spiritual journey and fosters good relations in community and understanding."

Episcopal News Service
Sharon Sheridan is an ENS correspondent.