Here are a few Assumptionists out in the woods enjoying the beauty of nature and brotherhood. "How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down upon the collar of his robes" (Psalm 133: 1-2).
A shared life of community, prayer & service
Our Augustinian charism is part of what makes our congregation unique. We are an apostolic and not a monastic community, but our work is rooted in the Rule of St. Augustine that our founder, Father d’Alzon, adopted for his new community. This means that, like Augustine, we place a high priority on the common life: common prayer, meals, work, and recreation. Our shared life is at the heart of who we are as brothers, striving to be of one mind and heart, intent on God. We value hospitality, and men in discernment with us have often remarked that they feel like part of a family among us.
“The Assumption is traditional,” Father Richard explains, “in its embrace of St. Augustine and monastic values like study, contemplation, silence, fraternal life, and common prayer, and in its emphasis on Jesus Christ and on love of the Church and the Pope. But it is modern in its desire to renew society through the truth and the brilliant light of the eternal Word, using a language and means that will reach the people of our day.”
One expression of our community life can be found in Boston, MA, where the Assumptionist Center serves as our provincial headquarters and also as our house of formation for scholastic brothers studying theology at Boston College. What is more, this unique community welcomes lay students and working professionals, who live, pray, eat, and study alongside our seminarians. The Center provides regular programming of prayer and Sunday conversations on church- or theology-related topics, so that “together,” in the words of Father Donald Espinosa, A.A., “we can learn what it means to be Church.”
