Prosper the Work of our Hands: An update from the Fellowshop of St Columbanus

Coptic painting of St. Mark

Greetings in the name of Christ our Lord on the feast of St. Mark the Evangelist!

"The Confucian Great Digest says that 'the chief way for the production of wealth' (and it is talking about real goods, not money) is 'that the producers be many and that the mere consumers be few...'. But even in the much-publicized rebellion of the young against the materialism of the affluent society, the consumer mentality is too often still intact: the standards of behavior are still those of kind and quantity, the security sought is still the security of numbers, and the chief motive is still the consumer's anxiety that he is missing out on what is 'in.' In this state of total consumerism--which is to say a state of helpless dependence on things and services and ideas and motives that we have forgotten how to provide ourselves--all meaningful contact between ourselves and the earth is broken. We do not understand the earth in terms of what it offers us or of what it requires of us, and I think it is the rule that people inevitably destroy what they do not understand."
Wendell Berry in "Think Little."

We have several developments at the Fellowship of St Columbanus that we would like to share with our readers.
First, we have made our initial contact with the bishop whose diocese we would like to settle! He is connecting us with people in his diocese for us to talk, and hopefully collaborate, with. This is an exciting development, and he is interested in our work and aspirations.

The Corn Field, by John Constable

Two other developments are worth mentioning at this stage. In order to get our ideas a wider audience and to start working toward our educational goals, we have started laying the groundwork for a Fellowship journal. We have a draft of a constitution, and we are reaching out to potential members of a board of editors. We are making a list of possible contributors for an inaugural issue, in which we would like to address four main areas: Education Reform, Monastic Revival, Public Discourse Restoration, and Sustainable Communities.
And second, we are seeking to add members. A teaching community like this will need a good number of people who are committed to prayer, work, and teaching. The four of us founders will need many more hands behind the plow, with many callings and skills. So we are praying over who we should invite, and hoping for volunteers.

We thank you for being our readers, and we ask that you pray for us, in the words of the Psalmist, that the favour of the Lord our God be upon us, and that He prosper the work of our hands.
And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all evermore.

- Matthew