At the heart of the Community is the new Church of the Transfiguration. The Church of the Transfiguration tells the story of this contemporary expression of a fourth-century style of architecture filled with mosaics and frescos, sculpted bronze, glass, and stone images. This church is a visible sign of God’s saving action redeeming humanity, drawing on Scripture and Church tradition and on the Community’s Cape Cod setting. This volume is also the story of lives that were shaped and formed by planning and building this church, and of the transformation of those lives, through the daily prayer that takes place within its walls, into faithful witnesses to the gospel of Jesus Christ, promoting a vision for reconciliation and Christian unity, and, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, glorifying God through worship, common life, creative arts, and hospitality.

You can browse sample pages on the Paraclete Press website or visit the Community of Jesus website to read more.

This fall Paraclete will publish The Last Monk of Tibhirine – the story of Jean-Pierre Schumacher, now the only surviving monk from Our Lady of Atlas monastery where seven monks were abducted and killed by Algerian terrorists in 1996.

I just finished reading the manuscript copy and what struck me the most was the humble commitment that led these monks to remain in Algeria and simply be present with their neighbors in a time of unchecked violence in their country. Their goal had never been to convert their Muslim neighbors – but to simply show Christ’s love and live alongside them. I have been thinking a lot about a portion of the last testament written by Prior Christian just before the abduction, where he says that he saw himself as an accomplice of evil in the world. He depicts it as  “sitting down at the table of the sinners.”  As it is described “all of us deserve part of the blame for everything that goes wrong in the family of mankind, and it is our duty to change this and to heal. If we neglect doing this, if we do not take action and carry out the task that we have been given, then we are jointly responsible for the result.”