News
September 24, 2023
Holy Eucharist with Reception and Vesting of the Community at the Crossing
Read a summary and download the leaflet from the day: https://www.stjohndivine.org/calendar/44629/holy-eucharist-with-reception-and-vesting-of-the-community-at-the-crossing
Watch the whole service on YouTube
Highlights:
In the news
St. John the Divine unveils ecumenical program for young adults to live, pray and work together at the cathedral
Episcopal News Service, August 30, 2022
Pope sends message for launch of ecumenical community in New York
Vatican News, September 9, 2022
New NYC Catholic-Anglican community hopes to draw youth back to religion
National Catholic Reporter, September 9, 2022
Coming Together in New York to Spur Christian Unity
Catholic New York, September 21, 2022
About
The community draws its name from an architectural element of the Cathedral, the central heart of the cruciform design on the building.
To be the Community at the Crossing, we must be rooted in the cross of Jesus, which is what will enable us in turn to go toward the other, to cross over.
Inspiration
The Community at the Crossing builds upon the model of intentional contemplative communities worldwide, drawing inspiration primarily from the Community of St. Anselm under the leadership of the Honorable Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and collaborating with the Chemin Neuf Community (a Roman Catholic community with an ecumenical vocation).
Read more about Ecumenism in the Chemin Neuf Community
Archbishop Welby's Greeting to the Community at the Crossing
A Message from the Archbishop of Canterbury
“In the book of the Acts of the Apostles, at the birth of the Church, the followers of Christ committed themselves to prayer, to the breaking of bread and to the apostles’ teaching. Throughout the centuries groups of men and women have committed themselves to live in religious communities, to pursue these same principles in a huge diversity of ways. The religious life matters profoundly to the Church. It has always been the place where renewal begins - without communities of prayer of one kind or another, one doesn't see renewal. The Community at the Crossing is a sign of God's work of renewal in the world, in your city, in the Church.”
Watch the whole greeting on YouTube
Pope Francis’s Greeting to the Community at the Crossing
A Greeting from the Holy Father in Rome
“At the Crossing means a place of crossing and meeting between young people of all Christian denominations. My hope is this community will offer an opportunity to revive the desire for unity of Christians and of society in New York and even in the United States. The future of faith in our world passes through Christian Unity. Yes, we do not agree on everything. Yes, we have convictions that sometimes seem incompatible, or are incompatible. But that is precisely why we choose to love each other. Love is stronger than all disagreements and divisions. It brings peace…let us not forget that At the Crossing evokes the Cross of Christ. Jesus Christ is a bond that is stronger and deeper than our cultures, our political options and even than our doctrines. The Lord! Jesus the Lord! Look at Him who gave his life for us!”
Watch the whole greeting on YouTube
A Word of Blessing from His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
Letter Read at the Cathedral's September 8 Service
“What we would like to see and encourage you to aspire to, dear friends, is for your newly-planted community to become a door for the young men and women that it will shape through this initiative: a door to heaven and a door to the world; a door to the heart and a door to humankind and all creation; a door to the compassionate nature of God and a door to the communal nature of the Church.”
Read by the Very Reverend Archimandrite Nektarios Papazafiropoulos, Chancellor of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, representing His Eminence Elpidophoros, the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of America
Watch on Instagram
What's it all about?
Help us share about Community at the CrossingCommunity life will be all the richer for the diversity within. We want to get the message out as widely as possible, so that the maximum amount of people can hear about the program, and be able to discern whether God is calling them.
Click here to view and download:
- 1 page summary of the Community at the Crossing
- Summary of application information
- How you can help:
-- share - to get the message out as widely as we can
-- build - to construct the program for the first cohort