Who We Are — Emmanuel Community

Who We Are

A Roman Catholic International Public Association of the Faithful of Pontifical Right

One Heart
& One Soul

The Emmanuel Community is a Catholic Lay International Community that brings together the faithful who share a common call to strive for holiness and to actively live their faith in daily life through adoration, compassion, and evangelization.

In sharing this common call, we fulfill our calling as the first believers did, who had "only one heart and one soul" (Acts 4:32).

Every Walk of
Life

The Emmanuel Community is for men and women of all walks of life — from ordinary, professional, and social backgrounds, of different classes, ages, and nationalities. We are made up of every state of life: lay people (married couples, single men and women, youth), priests, and laymen and women consecrated in celibacy. In sharing this common call of "one heart and soul," members — no matter their vocation — form a strong bond and unity, lived and witnessed to others in the joy and compassion of a life centered on Jesus Christ.

Emmanuel Community members
Community gathering
Sisters consecrated in the Emmanuel Community
Sisters consecrated in the Emmanuel Community

This unity is expressed through weekly gatherings known as households, as well as monthly and national meetings — allowing brothers and sisters to share how the Lord is working in their lives, how they are striving to evangelize day to day, and to carry one another's petitions in prayer. It also gives everyone the chance to go deeper in faith formation, and to reinvigorate the call to serve the Lord, the Church, and one another — particularly through evangelization, compassion to the poor and sick, and a variety of apostolic efforts rooted in the new evangelization.

Emmanuel School
of Mission

The Emmanuel Community operates international schools of evangelization (ESM) offering 9–10 month formation programs for young adults, typically ages 18–30 — focused on spiritual, community, intellectual, and missionary life.

Altötting, Germany hosts one such school — known for its emphasis on music, creativity, and mission — called "Rejoice," the Emmanuel School of Mission in Bavaria. Its ten-month formation combines daily Mass, Adoration, praise, creative training (especially music and media), theology, evangelization training, and European missions.

The school offers three missionary training tracks: organization and logistics (planning a mission from A to Z), content creation (social media, testimonies, teachings), and formation for missionary disciples who return home equipped to serve.

Emmanuel School of Mission students
Emmanuel School of Mission students

For more in-depth questions, email anne-claire.albisetti@rejoice.cyou or direktor@rejoice.cyou.

Called to
Holiness Together

I.

Encounter with the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit guides members of the Emmanuel Community to personally encounter Christ, creating in them a desire to walk with Him in holiness. Known as "the outpouring of the Holy Spirit," this encounter calls people of every vocation to move forward together in a life of holiness.

II.

Fraternal Communion

The presence of all vocations together is essential to both evangelization and sanctification — a gift from God to respond together, as the Church, to His call: to listen to the Holy Spirit, to adoration, fraternal love, and praise.

III.

Sent to the Heart of the World

Following Emmanuel — "God with us" — members live where God has placed them: in family, professional, and social settings. They engage fully in society, seeking to be in the world without being "of the world" (Jn 17:14).

IV.

Adoration, Compassion & Evangelization

Through daily Eucharistic Adoration, members contemplate and imitate the compassionate heart of Christ — which naturally leads them to evangelize everyone they meet, so that all may come to know Jesus.

Read About the Three Pillars →

A Community
Around the World

11,500+Members Worldwide
67Countries
5Continents
275Priests
225Consecrated
10Bishops

In North America we are currently present in 17 states — reaching from East to West — and in 3 Canadian provinces.

Read More About Where We Are →

Ordinary Days,
Extraordinary Grace

Life in Union with God

Every member's first desire is to be united with God — turning to Him, listening to Him, loving Him, and letting themselves be loved by Him. Prayer is essential, with the Eucharist at the center of a life of praise.

Households & Gatherings

Each member takes part in a household — a small group that meets regularly, usually weekly, to listen to the Holy Spirit through praise, Scripture sharing, and prayerful intercession. Monthly, multiple households in a region gather together.

Mission & Service

Each member commits to a missionary life, offering themselves for the Community's service. Missions vary according to each member's unique gifts (charism), the needs of the world, and the needs of the local Church.

Companionship

Each member receives regular personal support from another member — a fraternal and spiritual companionship that helps everyone live in harmony with their commitment, vocation, and personal life.

Explore
Further

"Pierre and the Emmanuel" (long version, 53 min — French with English subtitles)

"We are a family of laypeople, priests, and consecrated members united by one conviction: a personal encounter with Jesus Christ changes everything."

Come and See

Get in Touch With Us