Community of Jesus — Attraction in Orleans

The art, mosaics, glass and organ at the church are truly world class and the musicians are recognized by professional peers for the quality of their performances. The publishing house, Paraclete Press, offers a range of Christian classics as well as contemporary authors so that as someone raised catholic and now in a second year of Buddhist studies, I appreciate the range of offerings related to my Christian roots at their bookstore that I visit once a year or for a gift. The quality and dedication to worshipping God thru the arts is exemplary here. The new performance center in Brewster is an investment in the broader community, as well. And for these reasons in particular I have given four stars.

Todays Community of Jesus is different from the one I grew up near and visited as a guest for youth activities in the 1970s and 1980s in Orleans. I have both childhood friends and people I care about who continue to live at the Community and I have some who have left the Community. Several years ago I attended a holiday music service and during the homily the minister spoke briefly to the fact that their are parts of their history as a Community that they are not proud about (I don’t remember the exact phrasing). For me, an organization that has found its way to ground itself in a recognized Christian tradition - Benedictine - and to at least comment in the open of public worship about their own recognition of transgressions, is an organization that is traveling a path of growth. For the people I care about who were harmed by past practices, I am sorry and I will say the same thing to my catholic friends and members of my Buddhist community that grew out of the remains of sangha that “fell apart” after a former leader’s sexual impropriety. I offer these reflections to simply ground this review in the fact that I am not blind to the Community’s past, and at the same time I am most interested in meeting or visiting with others where they are at this moment in time on their spiritual journey. Today’s Community certainly deserves four stars for the quality of their arts, music, and artistry created and performed in service to the ideals of worship…and done so by human beings,...

My Aunt has been in this Community for my whole life and it has been a huge heartache for our family. This place is straight up a cult. They robbed me and my family of a good relationship with our family member. A few times in the past my aunt tried to escape but they would just punish her by sending her away to Bermuda to do hard labor or to Canada. Most recently the community decided to put the sisters in this "quiet time of reflection" where they aren't allowing my aunt to talk or visit with her twin sister (my Mom). This has caused my elderly mother a lot of stress and heartbteak. She finally had to go down there and demand for them to allow her to see her twin sister. They gave her a hard time about letting her see her sister but she refused to leave until thry did. These people put on happy faces and say they love God but they are pure evil for the damage and pain they caused the families of those people they have brainwashed to stay there. I remember as a little girl going to visit my aunt at the Community only to be turned away at the gate many times with some lame excuse by one of the sisters. I would be in tears because I loved my aunt and I wanted to spend time with her. I also used to tell my Mom that I was going to be a spy when I grew up so I could get into the Community and rescue my aunt from them. This is how deeply these cult members affected my life. Now I have to listen to my ailing, elderly Mom stressing out on the phone with me because the Community decided to keep the sisters on this lockdown of silence since June. This is abusive and illegal. Why aren't more people speaking out about how cruel this is?! I wish my aunt had never entered the Community and I hope some day this place has to face responsibility for all the lives and families they've destroted. May God judge these leaders...

I lived here for about 6 months in the early 1990s (I paid to "live in"). While a respite of music and seaside beauty, at a transitional time in my life, I have to agree that there's a cultish, controlling and puritanical vibe here (However, I was able to leave, which is a non-cult feature.). At the time they practiced a kind of daily ego grilling/shaming with strict conformity requirements. They exist outside actual Anglicanism, operating as an independent church. They particularly try to draw wealthy people to endow their future, and wealthy members have more "freedom". At one time, lawsuits from member children who were knowingly sent away to an abusive boarding school, were in the news. Surely some of the nuns and monks are sincere but the place is very unhealthy. It's also an extraordinarily white community with supremacist undertones. These are my opinions based...