The Archbishop of Canterbury has commissioned two key members of a new religious community for young people that will be resident at Lambeth Palace.
Archbishop Justin Welby licensed Revd Anders Litzell as Prior of the Community of St Anselm, and Sr Sonia Béranger as its director, during an ecumenical service last week.
Revd Litzell is an Anglican priest who directed the Swedish office of the popular evangelistic Alpha course, and Sr Sonia is a senior member of the French ecumenical community Chemin Neuf.
The archbishop and the rest of the congregation, which included clergy, Religious and lay people, laid hands on the pair and prayed for them in French and English.
The community, for 16 people aged between 20 and 35, was announced last year. Applications open next month and the community is expected to launch in September.
Archbishop Welby, who will be the community’s prior, said: “This is a moment of extraordinary adventure. We don’t know what the outcomes will be. It is a question for the Holy Spirit of God, and that’s a very, very good place to be.
“Our hope and vision is that those young people who come here will be so changed by their encounter with Christ that in 20 or 30 years, they will change the world.”
Loading ...
