“You give up your own diary, your own independence, your own control, for the sake of the common life. This turns a lot of people off but it’s about recognising that together we are greater than the sum of its parts. We can achieve far more together than we can by ourselves.”
Br Damian SSF

“I don’t really mind where people start, as long as they have Christ in their lives,” -
Sr Tessa, Roman Catholic religious on Holy Island

“Everyone can come here: one week saw a recently released convict sharing the guest house with a police superintendent and a high court judge.”
Br Stuart OSB

“Religious Communities contribute to building local communities.”
Sr Anita CSC

“I was the compost-brother for a few years. It proved an apt metaphor when I became Abbot.”
Br Stuart OSB

“On Holy Island you meet lots of people. Especially children who are tremendously receptive to new ideas – probably they have never seen a monk or a sister before.”
Br Damian SSF

“Contemplative life hasn’t died out. In any kind of religious life, the contemplative element is key. Without the contemplative dimension, whether it’s lived particularly in certain places or in every house, life just becomes frenetic and the focus is lost.”
Br Sam SSF

“The church, after all, is its people.”
Br Thomas OSB

“We are trying to challenge gender stereotyping. And there’s been a history to mixed communities, since very early on in the British church.”
Br Stuart OSB

“It's about committing the whole of yourself to God within the community. 24/7.”
Sr Anita CSC

“One thing we’re now trying to do is to work out what we have to offer to fresh expressions of the future – and what can we receive from them in the present – what challenges do they present?”
Br Stuart OSB

"Single-minded is how I would describe those early Celtic monks. They identified one purpose, and then dedicated themselves to live it to the glory of God.”
Br Damian SSF