Our monastic dedication is meant to be a fundamental witness of living into and out of God's will -- not just for ourselves, but for the sake of the Church and the whole world. The incarnation of this dedication creates mission opportunities and work as diverse as our personalities and gifts, but our primary focus is a lifelong working together as a community, witnessing to God's love in prayer and worship
and serving all God's people. Our aspiration is to be a model of Christian balance and simplicity as expressed in the Beatitudes. [Matthew 5:3-11]
A Place of Sanctuary
Our ministries have changed many times over the years. Our current call is the same as it was over a hundred years ago — to offer sanctuary for people who need healing, and encouragement to find God, to grow in prayer and to share to some degree in our life.
Conducted retreats are offered periodically at the convent in Greenwich, generally open to about ten guests. Space has been reserved through Christ the King Center to open the annual Labor Day Retreat to more guests.
Guest space is available on a first-come, first served basis for private, self-conducted retreats, providing a quiet place for silence and recollection set within the daily round of the sisters' prayer life. Guests staying at the convent may join the sisters in silent meals or, if involved in programs at Christ the King Spiritual Life Center, take meals there.
Outreach
The sisters in both Greenwich and Luwinga go
out
occasionally to preach, lead retreats, and
offer
programs on spirituality, altar guild training
and
prayer
ministry as well as to speak about the
Religious Life
within our Anglican tradition and
about vocation in the
Community of St. Mary.
Our sisters at St. Mary's Convent in Greenwich, NY,
work at Christ the
King
Spiritual
Life Center within
the
ministry of the Oratory of Christ
the
Healer as
members
of the Prayer Team.
They
pray
at ecumenical
Healing Services and in Individual Prayer Ministry, preside over Soaking Prayer sessions, participate in the local chapter of the Order of St. Luke, assist at the Oratory's School for Healing Prayer, and cordinate intercession for Welcome Home Initiative retreats for combat verterans.
The Community has maintained its connection with St. Mary's Healthcare System for Children in Bayside, NY, visiting a couple of times a year and encouraging a growing relationship between our hospitals and Beaver Cross Camp at Christ the King Center.
The sisters in Luwinga sponsor a monthly outreach to Aids orphans, providing a solid meal with protein, education and recreation for up to 150 children in their local community who have been taken in by over-burdened families due to the death of relatives to HIV. They have a small Guest House on site where priests and others within their diocese may step apart from busy ministry to share in the sisters' recollected silence and daily recitation of the Daily Office, where programs to small groups of lay
folk may be presented, and where European guests may be received.
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