Justin Welby: Religious communities seeing revival

He said young people are both joining established and new religious communities.
 
 “We are witnessing a revival of interest in community life in its different forms: celibate and non-celibate, communal and dispersed, traditional and experimental.” Most Rev Justin Welby wrote in the Church Times.

 
 The archbishop said this revival comes after a report published a decade ago gave a very bleak outlook on the growth of religious communities. Declining membership and rising average ages were a few factors that predicted a “meltdown”. 

 “That is why, as we take stock at this moment, we can rejoice that God has had very different ideas,” Archbishop Justin added.
 
“To look at the new life breathing into established and new communities across the Church of England is to see the Spirit of God at work in an incredibly exciting way.”
 
He said that Mucknell Abbey and West Malling are both great examples of established communities making way for new people.
 
The Benedictine Sisters at West Malling partnered with Rochester diocese and St Augustine’s College to recreate their space in order to welcome new novices. They also have ​the Pilsdon Community on the same site, ​
 
Archbishop Justin also praised new communities like Tree of Life in Leicester, and the Young Franciscans in London for “answering a clear desire among younger people to integrate…