The Brothers and Sisters of Charity at Little Portion Hermitage is a Roman Catholic based community made up of an integrated monastic expression of celibate brothers, celibate sisters, families and singles, and a domestic expression of those who live throughout the world in their own homes. It is the first Vatican sanctioned self-supported indigenous religious community in the United States.
The Brothers and Sisters of Charity, a Public Association of the Faithful, was founded by John Michael Talbot in 1980.
Most of the members of the monastic expression live at the Little Portion Hermitage in Berryville, Arkansas. In 2012, a second house was opened in Houston, Texas. There is also an international ecumenical domestic expression consisting of single men and women and families, living in their own homes and sharing the same Rule and Constitution with the monastic expression. The monastic mission foundation on the Island of Ometepe in Central America currently includes both monastic and domestic members.
Famous quotes containing the words portion and/or hermitage:
“Our kids will develop a work ethic only if we require them to pay a portion of the cost of some of the things they want. They’ll learn to defer gratification the moment we stop routinely pulling out our wallets. And they’ll learn self-discipline only if we care enough to enforce reasonable limits.”
—Fred G. Gosman (20th century)
“A hermitage in the forest is the refuge of the narrow-minded misanthrope; a hammock on the ocean is the asylum for the generous distressed.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)