Charis Ecumenical Catholic Community

Do you feel gratitude and joy because you belong to a faith community that lives your values and supports you without compromise? Where you feel not only welcome but wanted?  

We do. We are Charis, Minnesota's first Ecumenical Catholic Community. 

And we need your support to get the word out. Will you help us make a new way of being Catholic visible with a gift of $100 or more?

Charis ECC was brought to life by progressive lay leaders who loved the Catholic Tradition but had moved dramatically away from the restrictiveness they were experiencing in their parish churches. We dreamed of creating a space that welcomes and embraces all with the healing love, peace, and joy of Jesus Christ. No one denied sacraments. True participative governance. Vibrant liturgy and inspiring preaching. 

To grow, we need to increase our resources by extending our base of support. We ask you to contribute so that we can:

1.   Via new media and other outlets, get the word out that if you love the ancient Catholic tradition, and all its beauty, you can have that without compromise. 
2. Provide our pastoral director with a salary. This visionary woman has been without one for six years, weathering COVID with us and the vicissitudes of trying to grow a faith community in a challenging cultural and post-COVID environment. Unlike other churches, we do not have denominational support in our small, growing inclusive Catholic movement. We want her voice in the greater inclusive Catholic movement nationwide.
3. Continue to improve our innovative hybrid liturgy. We have people all over the globe dialing in to pray with us in a completely participatory Mass. 

We ask for your financial support in achieving our vision. No gift is too small. Invest with us in another, completely inclusive and sacramentally just way of being Catholic. No one rejected or turned away. No one.

Guided by the promptings of the Holy Spirit, Charis Ecumenical Catholic Community crystallized our hopes for shared path.  You can read about our vision in full at www.charisecc.org.   We want the world to know that at Charis, and the ECC as a whole, there is a place for everyone — for you: 

• Young/Old/Single/Married/Divorced folks, all gender expressions and orientations 

• Those who want authentic community, whether they have deep faith or real questions   

• People who want to live change now and not wait for cosmic institutional shifts

• People who have been let down or hurt by the church who want loving healing

• People called to lead as laity or as priests and deacons, without restrictions based on gender or orientation

OUR PROMISE TO OUR COMMUNITY 

• To be a haven for open thought, expression, and action  

• To maintain an atmosphere in which all are equal without barriers 

• To be a catalyst for uncovering and fulfilling a life vision and mission 

• To provide real connection and support for navigating the challenges that life can present  

• To be part of a circle where everyone is valued that's not only meaningful but fun!

Mission 

We are People of God baptized in Christ who practice our Catholic faith as a discipleship of equals, extending welcome and full sacramental participation to all, regardless of gender identity, orientation, or marital status.

Vision 

To be a thriving and profoundly connected community in which the driving focus is love without judgment, authentic inclusion, service to others, following Jesus Christ, and learning from the witness of holy people throughout the ages. 

Charis Ecumenical Catholic Community is incorporated under the name Ecumenical Catholic Communion of the Twin Cities and is a 501c3 nonprofit.