Madonna House Apostolate

The Madonna House Apostolate is a Catholic Christian community of lay men, women, and priests dedicated to loving and serving Jesus Christ in all aspects of everyday life. It was founded in 1947 by Baroness Catherine Doherty in Combermere, Ontario and has established missionary field houses world-wide.

Madonna House was founded by Baroness Catherine and Eddie Doherty in Combermere, Ontario in 1947. The apostolate has since grown to establish twenty-three “field houses” in six countries.

Staff workers of the Madonna House Apostolate live in voluntary poverty. Donations of clothing, food, goods and money come from a variety of sources enabling them to live out their promise of poverty, and better identify with the poor whom they serve. As a celibate community, the men, women and priests live in separate dormitories and generally work in separate departments, but gather together for all daily meals and religious services.

Members of the Madonna House community live a simple daily routine beginning with a brief prayer service, followed by a day of work, and ending with Mass and dinner. Work at the main house generally consists of the day-to-day maintenance of the community, care of a farm, and the sorting and distribution of donations to the poor.

The spirituality of the Madonna House Apostolate is summarized in The Little Mandate, a "distillation" of the Gospel message of Jesus Christ brought forth by the apostolate's foundress. Some members of the apostolate live in "poustinia", meaning a small, sparsely furnished cabin or room (the term poustinia has its roots in the Russian word for "desert"). For these few staff workers, their voluntary life as poustiniks is somewhat like that of a hermit, though less strict.

Madonna House welcomes guests into their community, allowing anyone to come and join their daily routine of work and prayer for varying lengths of time at their training centre in Combermere.

The main work of the Madonna House Apostolate is serving the poor — both the physically and spiritually poor. Donations sent to the community are redistributed locally and internationally. Through their missionary field houses, Madonna House staff workers serve the needs of the poor in many ways, from "prayer and listening houses" to soup kitchens.

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