The Brothers and Sisters of Charity need dedicated servants and handmaidens for Jesus. Come join us in our revolution.

The Brothers and Sisters of Charity, a Public Association of the Faithful, was founded by John Michael Talbot in 1980. We are a Catholic-based community of celibate brothers, celibate sisters, singles who can marry, and families, called as a monastic and domestic spiritual family into deep love relationships with and in Jesus Christ. We share common work and recreation areas while retaining appropriate separate cloistered areas for each expression. Our primary founder is Jesus, our primary rule is Scripture, and love is our primary law. The members of the monastic expression live here at the Little Portion Hermitage in Berryville, Arkansas. We also have an international ecumenical domestic expression consisting of single men and women and families, living in their own homes and sharing the same Rule and Constitution with the monastic expression.

One of the key words to describe our community is integrated. We balance contemplative and charismatic, stable (i.e., living in one place) and itinerant (i.e., traveling); solitary and communal; and eremitical and active ministry. Another major monastic integration is that of celibate men and women and families existing side by side without losing their uniqueness. It is exciting to see the radical gospel lifestyle at work for every state of life in one community raised up by the Spirit within the Church.

Most of the work we do here at the Little Portion Hermitage consists of gardening, care of livestock, office work, cooking, cleaning and maintenance of the grounds and buildings. Since part of our life deals with the manual tasks of making the community as self-sufficient as possible, you should be between the ages of 21 – 45 years, in good health, physically, emotionally and spiritually and debt free. Singles may also choose to spend a few hours a week doing some ministry in the nearby towns. Our local outreaches include volunteering at our the Mission Clinic in Berryville; ministering at our Little Portion Retreat and Training Center, which is run mostly by local domestic members but with some involvement from the monastic community, and meeting various other needs of the local populations that come to our attention from time to time. Another ministry of ours is giving tours and simply being a loving presence to the hundreds of “pilgrims” who come to visit the hermitage every year.

Members of the family expression profess the evangelical counsels for a consecration of their life in a way proper to their state of life in this community. Specifically, and most obviously, chastity means simply extra effort for fidelity to one’s matrimonial vows, poverty allows for the physical things needed for the raising of children, and obedience does not violate the more primary domestic church of the family in community and in the Church. Families with children moderate the normal celibate monastic routine of solitude, silence, etc., to insure the children have ample time and space for education and recreational play.

By the more domestic nature of the family monastic community, their profession demands a less intense living-out of each respective covenant than the religious expression of our community. However, it requires a more intense living out of each respective covenant than the non-monastic expression of our community. 

For more information, please write us at: 
Little Portion Hermitage
Attn: Family Vocations
350 County Road 248
Berryville, AR 72616 

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