Constitutional text - Chapter Tree - Our Community life

- community prayer is highly valued, often fonning the
main witnessing activity
- relationships are generally within the corronunity itself
- decisions are made with the life of the corronunity as the
prime criterion
~ great amount of collegiality and consensus because the
decisions touch the lives of each member and
he or she should therefore be as involved aspossible
- locale is very irnportant, the coTlUTl.lility must be identifiably
together, especially gathered around a place ofworship
- this model gives much emphasis to the vertical, transcendental
values of religious corronunity life.
II - The Person-Centered, Mutual Support Model
- the corronunity exists far the sake of the member's personal
and spiritual growth
everything is evaluated in tenns of the interaction of the
members and their development as persons andreligious
- a variety of apostolates is tolerated because these reflect
and promote the diversity of gifts present in the
individual members
- a strong emphasis on fellowship within the community, but
outside relationships are not discouraged, providing
the individual does not find primary support, nourishment
and growth outside the corronunity
- conunon prayer is highly valued, but more in the sense of an
authentic faith-sharing that creates the environment
far continual conversion and transfonnation
- corronunity meetings concentrate a great deal on interpersonal
reactions - they are times for evident mutual support
(TI1ese are not "therapeutic corronunities" - the group
is presumably constituted of healthy adults.)
- decisions are made with the individual's growth and realization
of his or her potential as the primary criterion
- locale is not as irnportant as the interaction between the
members
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