The Brotherhood of Hope:
Reconnecting with Our Roots
Our roots
The Brotherhood
of Hope is a community of Catholic
brothers radically consecrated to Jesus by
vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience
in a common fraternal life. We strive to
advance the Gospel primarily by reaching
out to inactive or uncommitted Catholic
students at secular universities. We
foster deep conversion to Jesus Christ,
build evangelistic communities, and train
leaders to empower others with Christ’s
liberating hope.
Our roots are deeply tied to the
Charismatic Renewal. We were founded in
1980 by Fr. Philip Merdinger, a priest of
the Catholic Archdiocese of Newark NJ, USA
and former coordinator in the People of
Hope, a community in the Sword of
the Spirit. It was after visiting the Servants
of the Word in Ann Arbor, Michigan
USA, in 1978 that Fr. Philip – moved by
the example of young men living “single of
the Lord” – was inspired to found our
brotherhood community. We are deeply
grateful to the Servants of the Word for
their founding inspiration, the support we
have received, and the common patrimony we
share.
While in discernment to become a Catholic
community of brothers, our brotherhood had
to move its home from New Jersey to
Boston, and leave the Sword of the Spirit.
This period was a challenging one for both
the brothers and the community we left.
But all throughout this time we brothers
remained faithful to our founding
inspiration and continued to live out a
charismatic spirituality and to bring
others to a deeper the life in the Spirit.
Tallahassee
Covenant Community
Reconnecting
Beginning in 2008, the Brotherhood of Hope
began a communal discernment to re-enter
the Sword of the Spirit. For the past
decade, we brothers have had the great joy
of reconnecting with our roots, rekindling
our relationship with the Servants of the
Word, visiting other communities and
becoming a regular part of local covenant
community life. In January 2017, the
Brotherhood of Hope petitioned to become a
formed, underway community in the Sword of
the Spirit (known as Underway B
Community). In April 2017, we underwent a
visitation by various leaders from the
Sword of the Spirit and were approved as
an Underway B Community!
Reconnecting
with the Sword of the Spirit has been
deeply refreshing for our community!
Renewing our ties with the Servants of the
Word has once again become a great gift of
fraternal camaraderie to us. Restoring
ties with the family life of covenant
community has been encouraging and
lifegiving.
Currently the Brotherhood is helping to
build a covenant community in Tallahassee
FL, USA. It is a very fruitful endeavor
which has been steadily growing over the
past few years.
We brothers are extremely grateful to the
Lord for his faithfulness in leading us
back to our spiritual family in the Sword
of the Spirit!
[This article is adapted from the October
2017 issue of The Sword of the Spirit North
American Regional Newsletter, used with
permission.] |