My vision has changed many times over the years, but now I’m 99 percent sure I’ve settled on my main vision: a think tank of animal rights activists building an umbrella network, with local chapters that support every person and group working for animals without competing with any of them. The heart of it is a cooperative community on land held in a land trust. People who share this vision and live together can be far more effective, because we’re together so much and can get more done. We can also model a vegan cooperative community, which is much needed. It will start with me living on the land or nearby and reaching out to people who share my vision and values, who will eventually join me in living here. As we live and grow together, the vision can evolve. These articles, written over the past thirteen years, let you get to know me and my history along the way.

When someone on Facebook questioned by ability to be an “abbess” of the monastery–because she was questioning my devotion to Jesus–I answered in the following way:

I feel confused–why do you think I haven’t given my life to Christ? I surrendered my life to Christ 20 years ago, and I have followed him as faithfully as I can according to my imperfect understanding of what that means as I study the Bible, pray, and do other spiritual practices that help me align with his will. I do perceive that you are accusing me of something that is not true, and I would enjoy knowing what inspires you to want to accuse me of this? Do you believe that believing in eternal conscious torment is the only way to surrender to Jesus? Here are the beliefs that I subscribe to, in case you want to know. https://christianuniversalist.org/beliefs/

As the founder of a monastery, I consider myself to be a person who can facilitate a group of people who want to follow Jesus together. I believe that through spiritual practices, which include studying the Bible, we will be able to hear God’s voice more clearly, and know how to proceed.

My vision is that by encouraging each other, as the early Christians did, sharing all things in common, and completely devoting their lives to service and sharing the love of Jesus, people will know we are Christians by our love–for each other, and for the people we serve.

I won’t call myself an abbess, which is defined this way:

“An abbess is the female head of a convent of nuns.”
This will be a new kind of monastery, where eventually, as women become members, they will be equal to each other, making decisions in a similar way that the quakers do–seeking together the Holy Spirit’s guidance. I hope you will look at my blog and find out more about what I am doing.