St. John the Divine welcomes third ecumenical Community at the Crossing cohort

During a special Sept. 21 worship service, 13 young adults, now part of the 2025-2026 cohort, were vested in robes signifying their membership in the Community at the Crossing and formally received into the larger Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine community in New York. Photo: Hannah Spiers

[Episcopal News Service] The third cohort of Community at the Crossing, a yearlong ecumenical intentional community, has settled in at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York. Now through May 2026, members of different Christian backgrounds will live, work, study, pray, share meals and engage in community service together.

“[Community at the Crossing] gave me an opportunity to take a few steps back, gain a different perspective and be able to embrace my vocation with a real sense of – this is a thing that I feel like God and I are saying yes to together,” Benjamin “Ben” Sides, an alumnus of the first Community at the Crossing cohort from 2023-2024, told Episcopal News Service. Sides is a seminary student at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, California.

This year’s cohort includes 13 adults ages 22-33 from the United States, Japan and India. Their Christian backgrounds include Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Catholic and non-denominational. Their academic backgrounds also vary, ranging from religion and anthropology to graphic design, education, finance and more. Most members live at St. John the Divine, though some are commuting every day.

“Every cohort is a little different, but in a good way,” the Rev. Matt Jacobson, who also serves on the Community at the Crossing’s advisory board, told ENS. “I’m looking forward to seeing how they change over the year, how God works on them and through them throughout this program.”

During a special Sept. 21 worship service, the cohort was vested in robes signifying their membership in the Community at the Crossing and formally received into the larger cathedral community.

The Rev. Patrick Malloy, former dean of St. John the Divine and chaplain to the Community at the Crossing, told ENS in 2023 that he founded the program after observing the international Community of St. Anselm at Lambeth Palace in London, England, which was founded in 2015 by then-Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. The Catholic Chemin Neuf Community, an international community with an ecumenical vocation, also was an inspiration.

Members of both the St. Anselm and the Chemin Neuf communities helped design the Community at the Crossing’s curriculum, which includes Bible studies, guest speakers, local community service, regular retreats and more. Sides said he volunteered at a Habitat for Humanity ReStore twice a week while a part of Community at the Crossing.

“This program is both pragmatic as well as deeply spiritual. …I think it will, without a doubt, have a life-changing impact on these young people,” the Rev. Meredith Hawkins, a member of Community at the Crossing’s advisory board, told ENS.

The program’s Dialogues on Divinity speaker series, which is open to the public, will address contemporary issues through a theological lens. The first event, scheduled for Oct. 19, is on “conflict and the healing of hatred” and will feature guest speakers from the Rossing Center for Education and Dialogue in Jerusalem.

Sister Hannah Spiers, program coordinator of Community at the Crossing, told ENS that the Community at the Crossing doesn’t aim to make young adults into “super religious people” or future ordinands, but instead focuses on helping them deepen their faith and understanding of other Christian backgrounds.

“It’s really to transform individuals through the grace of community life and a rhythm that centers on Christ so that they transform the world,” she said.

-Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.