Our Community
The Community of Our Lady of Sorrows is an ecumenical Benedictine community of Oblates and Associates. We welcome Christians from many backgrounds, sharing a common Benedictine spirituality while honoring the different traditions our members bring with them.
We meet year-round on the first Saturday of each month via Zoom. Meetings generally last about an hour. Each August, we also gather by Zoom for our annual one-day Chapter retreat. If you would like to attend a meeting, contact us for more information.
Our Story
We were founded in 2006 as an independent community of laypeople following the Rule of St. Benedict, and in 2008 we became an Oblate Chapter of a Benedictine monastery in New York. Twenty years later, our Community continues to live and grow in the tradition of St. Benedict.
Our foundress, Rev. Deaconess Sr. Mary Joseph Lavdas, OSB, made her life Oblation in October 2008. At that time our independent community became Benedictine, was renamed the Holy Family Chapter, and Sr. Mary Joseph became our first Director. For several years we were part of a parish in Pennsylvania, but when the pastor reposed in 2020, we reorganized under our original name, the Community of Our Lady of Sorrows. Sr. Mary Joseph remains our Director today.
Do you yearn for life and desire to see good days? Then “run while you have the light of life.”
(Rule of St. Benedict, Prologue)
Come. Seek. Listen. Discover the Benedictine way to holiness.
We meet year-round on the first Saturday of each month via Zoom. Meetings generally last about an hour. Each August, we also gather by Zoom for our annual one-day Chapter retreat. If you would like to attend a meeting, contact us for more information.
Our Story
We were founded in 2006 as an independent community of laypeople following the Rule of St. Benedict, and in 2008 we became an Oblate Chapter of a Benedictine monastery in New York. Twenty years later, our Community continues to live and grow in the tradition of St. Benedict.
Our foundress, Rev. Deaconess Sr. Mary Joseph Lavdas, OSB, made her life Oblation in October 2008. At that time our independent community became Benedictine, was renamed the Holy Family Chapter, and Sr. Mary Joseph became our first Director. For several years we were part of a parish in Pennsylvania, but when the pastor reposed in 2020, we reorganized under our original name, the Community of Our Lady of Sorrows. Sr. Mary Joseph remains our Director today.
Do you yearn for life and desire to see good days? Then “run while you have the light of life.”
(Rule of St. Benedict, Prologue)
Come. Seek. Listen. Discover the Benedictine way to holiness.
Rev. Deaconess Sr. Mary Joseph Lavdas, OSB, JCD
Founder and Director, Community of Our Lady of Sorrows
