The Augustinian Secular Communities

The Augustinian Seculars
Are lay men and women who:

  • live their faith, hope, and love through community
  • try to follow Christ and spread his message in their daily lives under the spiritual leadership and teaching of St. Augustine.
  • continue to live and work within the community at large according to their
    particular circumstance and calling.
  • bind themselves by formal promises to share
    in the Augustinian way of life, being of one
    mind, and one heart, intent upon God.

Why become an Augustinian Secular?

One becomes an Augustinian Secular to:

  • receive spiritual strength and inspiration
    from the Augustinian way of life.
  • bring the values, ideals, and example of
    St. Augustine to the world in which we live.
  • seek and announce God's kingdom in conformity with the charism of the Augustinian Order.

What is meant by the "charism" of the Augustinian Order?

Every major religious order or rule of life is
guided by a call of the Holy Spirit to certain
values and practices.

For those who follow the Rule of St. Augustine, these include:

  • a life of fraternity and community which leads us to the careful cultivation of the values of friendship.
  • a commitment to know and follow Christ by lovingly studying the Scriptures, especially the Gospel.
  • an approach to life grounded in conversion and interiory.
  • a call to unity and peace in love which tirelessly defends justice and denounces injustice in accord with Gospel values.

Who may become an Augustinian Secular?

Augustinian Seculars are Christians women
and men who:

  • are 18 years of age or older.


  • are single, married, widowed, or divorced.


  • have a desire to further seek God through prayer, study, conversion, and interiority.


  • are willing to commit themselves to a Christian formation according to the spirit and example of St. Augustine.

Becoming an Augustinian Secular

  • Those interested in the Augustinian Seculars
    are encouraged to seek more information
    from one of the persons listed to the right.

  • Request admission to a local Augustinian Secular Community.

  • Complete a formation period of not less
    than one year during which they will seek to live the Christian life with greater fidelity, study the Gospel and Rule of Life for Augustinian Seculars; and participate in
    prayer, the Eucharist, meetings, and other activities with the Secular Community.

  • Make their formal promises at the
    conclusion of their formation period.

 

 

Augustinian Secular Contacts:

Augustinian Seculars
c/o Very Rev. Gary Sanders, OSA
3266 Nutmeg Street
San Diego, CA 92104

Augustinian Seculars
c/o Fr. Jim Retzner, OSA
2060 North Vermont Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90027-1919

Augustinian Seculars
c/o Fr. Tom Whelan
108 Cole Street
San Francisco, CA 94117

Augustinian Seculars
c/o Fr.Bill Ryan, OSA
P.O. Box 810
Myrtle Creek, OR 97457-0116

 


Augustinian Seculars from Our Mother of Good Counsel Church in Los Angeles spent an afternoon at ogar Infantil providing an art project for children with an artistic bent. Deacon Fernando Lopez, OSA assists some of the artists while seculars Joan Davis and Rose Ann Habershaw look on. Photos by Art Habershaw.

Fernando Joan Tempra

The Augustinian Seculars of Our Mother of Good Counsel in Los Angeles, CA, made their formal promises to Very Rev. Gary Sanders, O.S.A., Rev. Jim Mott, O.S.A., Rev. Tom Behan, O.S.A., the Los Angeles area Augustinian Secular Director, and Rev. Jim Retzner, O.S.A., on April 26, 2008, the Feast of Our Mother of Good Counsel.

Some of the St. Patrick's - San Diego Augustinian Seculars serving soup at the parish's Lenten
Friday night soup supper. They spent the entire afternoon preparing the soups and bread.

The Oregon Augustinian Secular Community ministering at
the Hogar Infantil la Gloria Orphanage in La Gloria, Mexico; just south of Tijauna, Mexico

 

© 2012 Order of St. Augustine, Province of St. Augustine