Who We Are
We are a small, non-canonical, inter-denominational religious community of women who take as our source of inspiration the Beguines of thirteenth century northern Europe. We are creating a beguine model for today. The community consists of married, widowed and single women who follow various Christian religious traditions. Some of us live together in what we call a modern day "beguinage". Others of us live separately. Two are members of the Association of Contemplative Sisters.

The "Beguines", in our incarnation of them at least, are not a group you join, but are lived patterns to adopt and adapt. Hence, our motto: "Ye shall know them by their fruits" (Matthew 7:16). To this end, we each develop our own ministries, attend individually or jointly to the work which comes out of those, and get together either online or as a group when the need arises. We started by giving each other major life support (including housing, jobs and education) while seeking direction and purpose for our lives from the Gospel. We continue by extending ourselves into the community at large as the opportunities and needs arise. Our main outreach is directed toward the needs of women in the workplace and in homes.

Some of our activities have included:

• Regular weekly lunchtime Taize services for women in the neighborhood and introducing Taize to local churches.
  
  
• Food and transportation ministry to cancer patients.

• Teaching English to Spanish-speaking healthcare workers.
  
  
• Computer technical support for churches and small businesses in the Bay Area.
  
  
• Teaching internet and computer skills for those unable to get to real-time, academic centers.

How We Support Ourselves

We do not accept donations. The Beguinage receives financial support from:

1. The salary of one of our members who is an associate professor of Philosophy and Religion at San Francisco State University.

2. Chimney Sweep Books (est. 1975, owner: Lillian Smith Kaiser). Please visit our store: www.chimneysweepbooks.com. Or email us: chimney@beguine.org We have extensive holdings in Religion and Theology. We also specialize in Women’s Studies and Celtic Studies. If you do not find your author or title in our online holdings, email us and we will be glad to check stock which is not yet in the database.  The store has migrated from bricks and mortar to a completely online business. At one point in pre-computer days, we published Traditional Catholic Clip Art by Georgianna Brown and Judy Foreman. This is no longer in print and we have no plans to re-issue this. There are many better clipart books readily available (none that we know of, however, with that particular slant).

Learn more about the historical Beguines

"Beguine" is pronounced as in Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine" - (bee-geen). But there the resemblance ends. Follow the links below to learn more about the historical beguines, beghards (the male counterpart) and the beguine movement. Links open up a new window. The sites listed below are not affiliated with the American Beguine Community. If you have a Beguine page or know of one, please contact us and we'll add it to the list.

Catholic Encyclopedia:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02389c.htm

Sisters Between by Abby Stoner
http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~epf/1995/beguine.html

Katrien Vander Straeten's Beguine Page
http://www.cns.bu.edu/~satra/kaatvds/

New book on the history of the Beguines
An Independent Woman's World From the Twelfth Century to the Present: The Beguines and the Beguinages from the Southern Low Countries
http://www.lucioleguides.com/

Learn about Taize

"Taize" ('tey-zey') is an ecumenical movement begun in France by Brother Roger in 1940.  One of the activities of the American Beguines has been to introduce individuals, groups and churches to the simple, meditative music and liturgy of Taize.

Taize Home Page
http://www.taize.fr/index.htm

The music of Taize - listen to audio clips of the music of Taize
http://www.taize.fr/shared/mussamp.htm

Comments by philosopher Paul Ricoeur about Taize
http://www.taize.fr/en/encompri.htm

The American Beguine Community. Material copyright (c) 2008-2009
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