Our Spiritual Community

Our Lady of the Cascades strives to be a home and a family for those who are seeking a relationship with Christ. We strive to keep the liturgy alive in a loving environment. If you find yourself looking for a home in Christ, look no further. You are home!

Our Mission & Vision

Our vision and mission is to help connect people to faith

Our Lady of the Cascades and the Convergent Catholic Communion are both an ecumenical spiritual family, worshiping in the universal catholic tradition, providing  sacramental liturgy in an inclusive and loving environment.
 
Our goal is to spiritually nourish and serve our community in a way that celebrates diversity and demonstrates unconditional love. Our doors are open to people of all beliefs with the intent to dis-cover spiritual peace in their life.”

Mission & Purpose

With over 20 clergy residing across the U.S. from coast to coast, our spiritual communities engage in a variety of high-impact community outreach programs including: chaplaincy, homeless outreach, social services assistance, food bank ministry, and much more.
 
The path to ordination within our spiritual jurisdiction is open to everyone male or female, married or single. No prior college or spiritual formation is required to be granted entrance into a seminary program, however a 2 year foundational college degree is preferred. 

The Our Lady of the Cascades has paired up with several long distance seminary programs to provide a rigorous spiritual journey of priestly formation. Consisting of a 4 year program, depending on prior education or spiritual formation, our seminary candidates will prepare for the public practice of professional religious and chaplain services.

Our Connexion Senior Leadership

Our Bishop

His Grace the Rt. Rev. William (MATTHAIOS) Gameson, O.S.B., D.D.

His Grace The Rt. Rev. William (MATTHAIOS) Gameson, OSB, D.D., is the ordinary and spiritual director of the Connexion of Our Lady of the Cascades.

Click here to learn more about our Bishop.

The Very Rev. Nicholas Jacobs

Special Advisor to the Ordinary

 Director – St. Ignatius of Antioch Mission Bozeman, Montana, USA

The Rev. Fr. Juan-Diego Cedeno, n/OSB

Dean of Hispanic Ministries  

Director – St. Benedict’s Mission Portland, Oregon

The Rev. Mthr. Susan Bolen

Director – St. John’s House Tucsan, Arizona

The Rt. Rev. Daniel Lowry, OSF

Special Advisor to the Ordinary

Mr. Brian Baker

Director of Marketing & Digital Media

Click here to learn more about our governing body, our Metropolitan Archbishop, and the Convergent Catholic Communion.

Worship Communities

Our Communion encourages diversity in the expressions of Convergent Catholicism. Convergent Catholicism is currently expressed in three ways in our Communion.  We offer these definitions as a way of starting conversation but we wish to stress these are oversimplifications and really do not capture the nuances that are present.

First Expression Communities would, in many respects, exhibit a spiritual life and worship service that is fully evangelical, fully charismatic and fully sacramental. These communities strive to be  characterized by the best elements of each of the three streams.

Second Expression Communities are fully sacramental, and. embrace what many would describe as the “high church” paradigm. Their church services would be a liturgical experience from beginning to end; likely including formal prayers of the people, congregational prayers of penitence,  professing a Creed aloud together, and sharing the peace.  These Catholics embrace the sacraments in a way that is fully in-step with tradition.  These Catholics would be working to deliberately include more of the free-flowing elements of a Spirit-led worship experience in their lives.

Third Expression Communities would embrace what many describe as the “low church” dominant paradigm; that which is commonly experienced in the typical Protestant congregation. This Expression recognizes the ancient church as a legitimate voice, but mostly in their insistence on a celebrating weekly Eucharist.  Third Expression Convergent Catholics rely less on printed prayer books and service guides in favor of extemporaneous preaching, teaching and prayer.