Kenneth Mortimer of Nassau, Commonwealth of the Bahamas, was elected to full profession in The Community of the Gospel on March 6, 2021.  Mortimer, 62, is a lay minister at Holy Cross Anglican Church, Nassau, where he assists with liturgical, evangelistic, and educational activities, including Scouts. His election makes him the first international member of The Community of the Gospel (CG), a non-residential monastic community in standing with The Episcopal Church.

Kenneth Mortimer chose Br. Michael-Jude as his monastic name.

Founded in 2007, The CG’s members express their baptismal vows through concentrated prayer, study, and service. The community is made up of men and women, single and married, lay and ordained, most of whom are associated with The Episcopal Church.  Currently, there are nineteen professed members plus ten novices and postulants. An additional group of  twenty-four “Friends of the CG” accompany and support the CG with prayer, finances, and occasional service.

Commenting on his monastic role as a life-long member of the Anglican Diocese of  The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, whose Bishop is the Rt. Rev. Laish Zane Boyd, Sr., Br. Michael-Jude remarked:  “My role is to be a living stone, to stand firm with all the other living stones, always recognizing that the Cornerstone, the Cap Stone and the Foundation is all Christ.  As living stones, we must seek the good of others as we seek the good of ourselves.”

Br. Daniel-Chad Hoffman, CG, Guardian of The Community of the Gospel, noted that “Br. Michael-Jude has already enriched our Community with his single-minded focus on monastic living. His presence reminds us of the truth of the beloved John Oxenham hymn: ‘In Christ there is no East or West, in him no South or North, but one great fellowship of love throughout the whole wide earth.'”