About the Xaverian Brothers

We are a consecrated lay Catholic order of Brothers, with Associates and Collaborators, who strive to fulfill the spiritual aspirations that our founder, Theodore James Ryken, had for his Congregation.

Following the path of our Founder, we see ourselves as called to live ordinary lives that give witness to God’s unconditional love. As Ryken’s spiritual conversion was the sense of his being “put in his place” by God, we too believe that the Xaverian calling is a way of being put in our place in the world, a place of humility and simplicity, from which we receive the grace to turn toward God, fall in love with God, and put ourselves in God’s service as followers of Jesus Christ. Within each distinctive life choice, we are further invited to attentiveness, simplicity, flexibility and openness to the common, unspectacular flow of everyday life. We unite ourselves to God through an integrated life of both contemplation and service. Through the Xaverian Way we are awakened by the Spirit of God to our own graced potential and freely offer that giftedness in service to the gospel. Through our ministry, in particular among the poor and the marginalized, we work to help others discover their own uniqueness so they, too, may, as it is written in our own Fundamental Principles, “share the love of God with the world through their own giftedness.” In a spirit of hospitality, we try our utmost to be approachable and available, as true brothers and sisters who welcome others and accompany them in the joys and sorrows of their lives.

-Adapted from "The Preamble of A Description of the Xaverian Charism."