There are a number of people who share in the Eucharist at Trinity who are members of or associated with various religious orders and communities. They are part of what's called the religious life. Members of these monasteries, convents, and Christian communities have lives of obedience to a common spiritual discipline (Rule) and take a promise or vows for life or for a set number of years.
Many ways of living religious life are represented at Trinity. We have three professed members of Christian Communities, a solitary anchorite, and a number of affiliates, associates, and Oblates attached to various orders and communities.
In the Anglican Communion there are approximately 165 religious orders and communities for men and/or women. Around 35 are in the United States. Some live in residential community as brothers and sisters, others are dispersed communities that gather from time to time for retreat, community life, and learning. Some provide retreat houses and individual spiritual guidance. Each community has a rule of life and is committed to a life of common prayer and service.
The Episcopal Church also has women and men who have taken such vows as anchorites, hermits, and as solitaries. The 3rd and 4th centuries saw large numbers of men and women living in the Egyptian desert as solitaries. St. Anthony may be the most famous. This was the beginning of the vowed religious life in the church. In time it took communal and solitary expressions.
Fr. Martin Thornton, saw the first "glorious flowering" of English spirituality arising out of the solitary life in the 14th century. Evelyn Underhill wrote along the same lines that it was through expressions of the solitary life that mystical activity rose "to its highest point in the 14th century." The most famous of the 14th century solitaries is Julian of Norwich.
You may want to talk with someone at Trinity or investigate some of the links below if you think being associated with a religious community is part of your vocation and might be a support for your life.
These are some of the people at Trinity who participate in one of the parish's Eucharists and are members of or associated with a religious order or community, or living the religious life.
Louise Briscoe ― Member, Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross
http://www.adelynrood.org/about.html
Buffy Garlichs ― Member, Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross
http://www.adelynrood.org/about.html
Mary Louise Allen ― Member, Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross
http://www.adelynrood.org/about.html
Barbara Chattin-McNichols ― Member, Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross
http://www.adelynrood.org/about.html
Fr. Allan Parker ― Associate of Saint Gregory's Abbey
http://www.saintgregorysthreerivers.org
Linda Whitely ― Associate of the Community of the Transfiguration
http://www.ctsisters.org
Peggy Burt ― Oblate of the Sisters of the Monastery of St. Gertrude
http://www.stgertrudes.org
Br. Marvin Taylor ― Professed Member of the Community of the Paraclete
http://www.theparacletians.org
Sr. Jo Baim ― Professed Anchorite
Michelle Heyne ― Professed Member, Order of the Ascension
http://www.orderoftheascension.org
Fr. Bob Gallagher ― Professed Member, Order of the Ascension
http://www.orderoftheascension.org
The websites of some religious orders and Christian Communities
http://www.anglicansonline.org/resources/orders.html
Essays and sermons from the Order of Julian of Norwich
http://www.orderofjulian.org/julians_window/julians_window.html
Mount Calvary Retreat House in Santa Barbara
http://www.mount-calvary.org
A blog from the Sisters of the Holy Spirit
http://www.chssisters.org/chs-blog
Free content from the Sisters of the Love of God
https://www.slgpress.co.uk/SLGPress/SLGP_FreeContentRoot.asp
The oldest men's order in the United States. The site is rich in resources for spiritual life.
http://www.ssje.org
A blog posting on Sr. Mary Paul
http://www.liturgy.co.nz/blog/episcopalian-solitary/375
