Abstract
Charism and Community: A Study of New Monasticism with Special Reference to the
Northumbria Community
This thesis argues that the new monastic movement in the UK is at a point in its short
history where there is a need to reflect upon its founding intentionality in order to discern
its trajectory. After reviewing the literature, no clear or agreed definition of new
monasticism can be found. A variety of situations and environments has given rise to small
uniform practices and contributes to different relationships between new monastics, the
Church and wider society. Having researched a case study of a new monastic community
(the Northumbria Community) and interviewed eight of its members both past and present,
I found that intentionality governed not only the entrance narratives of the members, but
also their understanding of the Community’s own charism. I argue for a revisioning of what
it means to be new monastic with special reference as a vocation and argue for a new
reflective text for new monasticism from an unintentional standpoint.
The study starts with a review of the literature on new monasticism within a global setting
before focusing on four key influential new monastic visionaries and practitioners, as
interlocutors. I argue for the need of a greater understanding of new monasticism from an
anthropological perspective. Why do people join new monastic communities? How do they
embrace the charism of community? How do members belong? What is their relationship to
monasticism? The study moves on, to justify the research and explain why it is needed,
before setting out in detail the methodological stance adopted. In giving my own narrative a
voice in the study, it offers a fresh and deeper understanding of what it means to be new
monastic.
Part II of the study forms the case study of the Northumbria Community. After plotting the
history of the Community and reflecting upon Community literature in Part I, I conducted
interviews with members past and present. In doing so, I was able to explore how
membership, belonging and embracing of charism had changed over the history of the
Community. Having been a member of the Community from 1994-1998, I contributed to the
study in privileging my own voice when appropriate to advancing the study. My own voice
falls short of auto-ethnographic methodology as I enter the study as one of many voices.
Having concluded the case study, the intentional nature of the Community and its members
became very clear, which also correlated with my own conclusions in the literature review.
The focus of belonging, charism and relationship with monasticism all centred around what
was ‘thought’ in the minds of those engaging with the community.
Part III, the final part of my study, explores the differences between new monasticism as
intentional and unintentional. I argue for a revisioning of what it is to have a vocation to
new monasticism that, first, engages within the culture of monasticism and less with its
practices and secondly, reconciles intentionality to an unintentionality in letting go of
monastic identity and personal preference. Finally, I argue that the Nauigatio of St Brendan
may perhaps be a key text for new monastics to reflect upon from the perspective of a
fragile and unknown post-Covid future
