Kentucky

The Kentucky Lay Cistercians originally started meeting in Louisville in 1990 at the Merton Center located on the campus of Bellarmine University. Several years ago they began meeting at the Abbey of Gethsemani on the first Sunday of every month due to the changing demographics of the group membership.

We will also be having a meeting on the 3rd Saturday of the month to meet the needs of those members unable to meet on Sundays due to ministry commitments or other reasons. There are about 25 individuals on our email distribution lists and most months approximately 8-10 people are able to attend the Sunday meeting.

The contact is: Steve Taylor  steve40004@bardstowncable.net
 

Greater Cincinnati, OH

The Cistercian Lay Contemplatives community was formed in 1988 as the original lay program affiliated with the Abbey of Gethsemani. We were a group that strived to support and to provide resources for members in living the Plan of Life, a guide for laypersons who desire to integrate the values and practices of the Cistercian charism. Local communities began to meet in Louisville and Cincinnati. In 2002 we became known as Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey (LCG). The Greater Cincinnati LCG community currently has eighteen members.

Our community meets on the second Saturday of each month alternating between a day of prayer or a community formation day. We meet at the Poor Clares Monastery of St. Clare for days of prayer, and at St. Michael Church in Sharonville, Ohio for our community meetings. In the Spring we have an annual community retreat at the Moye Spiritual Life Center in Melbourne, Kentucky located eight miles east of Cincinnati.

We have formed a four member leadership team who coordinates screening and orientation of applicants for our community, initial formation for candidates, and planning for our yearly schedule of events. The team engages the participation of all community members in various functions that support our community’s growth as Lay Cistercians.

For further information about the Greater Cincinnati Lay Cistercian community, you may contact Mike Johnson at LCG503@aol.com

Indianapolis, IN

The Indianapolis Lay Cistercian community has recently formed.  Our group began meeting in November 2005.  At the present time, the group consists of two members plus two candidates in formation.  We are meeting monthly for now at 7:00AM on a Tuesday morning at a local Starbucks.
 
Indiana has only a few LCG members and we are attempting to organize ourselves as a state grouping as well as a local Indianapolis community  We hope to have a state mailing in the next few weeks and perhaps attract more LCG members to our Indianapolis community. As more members are added, we will have to change our meeting location.

Since we are so new, we have been discussing our thoughts about Cistercian spirituality and what has brought us to this change in our lives. We are sharing ideas on what we are reading and experiencing.
 
For information about our community contact Carol Andrejasich at carol.andy@prodigy.net
 

Midland, MI

The Midland Michigan LCG; is a community which began with 3 people in mid 1990’s and became an official LCG community in June of 2001, we continue to be blessed with growth. We meet monthly for prayer, centering, sharing and development in the Cistercian way. It is in the sharing of our lives and how we each live our Plan of Life in ‘our world’ that we encourage and learn from one another and grow in the Cistercian Way.

We study various books or Cistercian documents together, in order to grow in our knowledge of the Cistercian way. We have studied the Exordium, “Monastic Practices” as well as other books and documents on Centering Prayer, Lectio and other Cistercian tools.

We also share our lives deeply with one another at our meetings at various member homes, community work projects and as we get together two or three times a year for a social evening with our spouses.

The current facilitator is Larry Wilson, kjjwilson@yahoo.com We are always interested in new members in Michigan.
 

Columbus, OH

Marge Kielkopf ckielkop@columbus.rr.com and Mary Guilbert
aboundo@earthlink.net are co-facilitators for the Columbus LCG community. Gatherings are held the second Saturday of each month from 11am to 1pm

The group was formed in November, 2004. They meet for prayer, sharing and discussion of various spiritual writings. We have time for sharing, centering prayer, exploring the cistercians charism and time to eat! The community gathers from 16 to 24 folks at each gathering.

Mary Guilbert can be reached at 614-577-0687 CLICK HERE to email her. 

Memphis, TN

Gray Matthews, matthews@memphis.edu is the coordinator for this new LCG community. He can be reached at 901-678-3191. They also have members in Nashville, Sevierville, Cordova as well as in Memphis.
 

Northeast Community

Jane Endriss is currently the facilitator for the Northeast Community. Our community is composed of a group of members who live at quite a distance from one another in northeastern USA. We have monthly meetings via conference call, and are currently using computer web pages for online discussion, exchange of resources, and exchange of ideas. We are a new group, and growing. We hope to also have semi-annual retreats. She can be reached at JEndr@aol.com
 

Chicago, IL

Bob Johnson is the facilitator for the Chicago Community. He can be reached at rvjatty@ameritech.net