Religious Houses played an important role, sending out teams of priors, acting as the House leadership, to live and conduct programs in communities around the world. Among the highest priorities of Religious Houses were “spirit infusion”, which involved reaching out to and consulting with a region’s religious establishment, training residents via Odyssey programs, local church labs, and internships, and style formation of structures and missional families to further these efforts. (Report on Religious Houses) In so doing, the main purpose of the Religious Houses was penetrating and permeating communities down to a micro-level in order to “actualize sociological rebirth” and “conquer historical tyranny” at a perceived moment of historical change. (Symbolic centrum–Religious House Document, Edges of a Religious House Doc)
The priors of the Religious Houses were charged with the care and representation of the Order in the communities it served. As the Chicago Centrum put it in a 1974 report, priors served as pedagogues, social engineers, and “spirit gurus” in their assigned communities. As teachers, priors utilized various methods to help residents articulate their concerns and most immediate priorities. Finally, as “spirit gurus,” priors could provide spirit methods to reaffirm the purpose of the Religious House and the place of its members within it. (Profound Function of Priorship)
Economic
Cultural
Confirmed Order Reflections (Justin Morrill, 1986)
Ecclesiolas
Advanced Priorship Training School
Worship: Daily Office and Geneva
Global Order Forms (Basil Sharp, 1990)
New Directions for Religious Communities, Nelson Stover, June 1970
Cruciality of the Religious House Dynamic
The Profound Function of the Religious Order, Larry Ward, 1982
Five Pillars of Religious House, 1979
The Cruciality of the Religious House Dynamic, Joseph Mathews, 1973
Foundations of the Order: Ecumenical, Joseph Pierce
Global Order Report
Weekly postcard reports sent weekly from every religious house from 1970-1984
1970: September/October
1971: January, February, March, April, May, June, July/August, September, October, November, December
1972: January, February, March, April, May/June, July, August/September, October, November, December
1973: January, February, March, April, May, July, August, September, October, November, December
1974: January, February, March, April, May, June
1975: January, February, March, April, May, June, August, September, October, November, December
1976: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
1977: January, February, March, April, May, June, July/August, September, October, November, December
1978: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
1979: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August/September, October, November, December
1980: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
1981: January/February, March, April/May, June/July, August/September, October, November, December
1982: January, February, March, April, May, June, July/August, September, October, November, December
1983: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August/September/October, November, December
1984: January, February, March, April, May/June, September/October, November/December