Sisters of Nazareth join the Augustinian family: ‘We are of one soul’
The Sisters of Nazareth are joining the Augustinian family through a formal aggregation process. The union has received a decree from Rome and maintains the canonical autonomy of the Sisters of Nazareth. Both religious communities have a long history of service in San Diego, spanning over 200 years combined. The two groups share deep-rooted connections, including collaborative educational efforts and mutual support in assisted living facilities.
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Sisters of Nazareth and Augustinians: unity in Catholic religious life
Unity in Catholic religious life is not “liking the same things” or simply coordinating schedules. It is a supernatural communion: people consecrated to God living a shared form of life in the Church, shaped by charism, sustained by obedience, and expressed in fraternal charity—even when their missions differ. Seen through the lens of the Sisters of Nazareth and the Augustinians, unity appears as something profoundly ecclesial (connected to the whole Church), spiritual (grounded in Christ), and practical (lived in community).
Catholic unity in religious life has a clear foundation: consecrated persons belong to an ecclesially approved Institute, and therefore their “consecrated love” is necessarily lived with a community element and within an ordered responsibility for formation and fidelity to the Magisterium. Pope John Paul II states that consecrated love is “lived in the context of an ecclesially approved Institute” and is “for this reason … [also] has a community element,” while each Institute has responsibility for formation “in fidelity to the Magisterium of the Church.”
This is important because it protects unity from two opposite distortions:
The Church’s vision is different. It can include variety, but within communion. Pope Leo XIV, speaking about synodality, recalls the importance “to walk together… to let ourselves be enriched by variety,” while still remaining in a prophetic witness of charity in the Church and the world.
Even earlier, Pope John XXIII framed unity within the family in terms of charity: “The charity which burned in the household at Nazareth should be an inspiration for every family. … unity should thrive.”
So when we ask about unity between different religious realities—Sisters of Nazareth and Augustinians—the answer must be structural and spiritual at once: they are united because they share Christ, Church, and obedience, and then they express that unity through their own charisms.
The spirituality of the Sisters of Nazareth (presented by John Paul II to the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth) centers on the model of the Holy Family. The foundress is invoked as forming a community of “love,” and the Sisters are invited “to form yourselves after the example of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.”
This is more than an attractive image. It becomes a program of unity in at least three ways:
Christ’s hidden life becomes a common interior school.
The Pope describes the Incarnation and “the hidden life of Jesus in the mystery of the Holy Family” as the “kingdom of divine Love.” That means the Sisters’ unity is not only external (community routines), but interior—what one might call a shared “interior atmosphere.”
Prayer life and apostolic witness support one another.
John Paul II asks them so that their “prayer life and your witness” are “filtered by caring for the family.” When prayer and witness are integrated, religious life tends to resist internal fragmentation: sisters are not split between “spiritual people” and “active people.”
Their unity has an apostolic direction: Christian families.
The Pope emphasizes that the Sisters help families “resist ‘the greatest temptation of our time’, the denial of the God of Love,” and “help families to open themselves to Christ.”
This connects to a broader principle about women religious: John Paul II also invites consecrated women to intensify apostolic collaboration “at the service of Christian families,” noting that “The links between families and the religious life are both profound and vital.”
In other words: for the Sisters of Nazareth, unity expresses itself as a communal life that produces family-centered love—a unity that is both spiritual and outwardly fruitful.
For the Augustinians (in multiple expressions—Order of St Augustine, canons regular, monasteries, recollects), unity is described as something like a “charism grammar”: a way of being together that is explicitly structured by the Regula and by ecclesial fidelity.
Pope Paul VI, addressing the Order of St Augustine, quotes the beginning of their Rule: the reason they are gathered is “so that unanimes … sit vobis anima una et cor unum in Deum” (one mind and one heart toward God).
Crucially, he extends this unity beyond a single house: it must not be contained by fences or boundaries; it must “embrace … the universal Church.” The point is that Augustinian unity is not merely local—it participates in the Church’s unity.
Paul VI also warns against a mentality where “many … think … they can proceed by their own will … without taking any external rule,” which “subverts” the “true nature of theology.” He insists on fidelity to the Church’s “indefectible rule,” which is “found only in the authentic Magisterium of the Church.”
So Augustinian unity includes a doctrinal and ecclesial dimension: thinking, teaching, and discerning must remain anchored in the Magisterium.
John Paul II, speaking to Augustinian Fathers, connects Augustinian identity to “an intimate and exemplary communion of life,” and asks communities to show the “carisma agostiniano” of a charity-made community life that achieves unity of mind and heart toward God.
John Paul II’s speech to the canons regular makes the same interior-exterior link: contemplation flows from a “radical orientation to Christ” and results in transformed fraternal charity “in the community.”
John Paul II tells Augustinian Recollects that unity and fraternal charity should prevail, and he gives a key program for renewal: “starting afresh from Christ” as their “programme for the Third Millennium.” Renewal that is genuinely Augustinian therefore aims at deeper communion, not mere change of external forms.
Even though these families have different charisms and missions, Catholic teaching shows multiple shared “pillars” of unity.
The Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life stresses that obedience—rooted in faith—has always been essential to family life, and by analogy supports religious community life: “from the disobedience of one man came the disintegration … and from the obedience of the New Man began its reconstitution.” It adds that religious life draws from this conviction and must live from it “with courage,” so that people do not “run in vain in search of fraternal relations.”
Unity is therefore not produced by technique alone. It is produced by faith-shaped obedience.
John Paul II’s remarks on religious women underline that unity among sisters is fostered by “union among sisters” and “wholesome organization of daily life,” which “will sustain and foster” the efforts of all concerned.
So unity is not merely spiritual; it has a life-structure dimension: schedules, common prayer, and a shared rhythm that protects the soul and strengthens charity.
A striking aspect of the tradition cited in The True Spouse of Christ (attributed to Alphonsus Liguori) is the insistence that true union with God requires a kind of spiritual separation from relatives. The text argues that those who seek closeness with relatives—through frequent requests, visits, letters, and involvement in family affairs—cannot reach a close union with God. It also quotes warnings that “carnal love” can remove a soul from God’s love and warns that “Great piety towards relatives is impiety towards God.”
Even when this is applied to the context of enclosure and the vows, it reveals a principle relevant to unity: when attachments fracture interior availability, they also fracture community unity—because they can divert time, attention, and obedience away from the common mission and common prayer.
The same work describes the saints who sought removal from relatives so as to protect peace of mind and spiritual stability.
Catholic unity does not mean denying natural human relationships as such; rather, it means ordering them so that they do not undermine the consecrated “one heart” toward God.
A different angle reinforces the same conclusion: the Gospels’ call to follow Jesus can break up old social patterns, but the goal is not destruction; it is reconstituting family on a universal level—a “new family” whose requirement is communion with Jesus. That idea helps interpret both the Sisters of Nazareth and the Augustinians: both live a form of family in Christ, but each does so through its own charism.
Today’s challenges to unity often look like this:
Catholic teaching provides a response:
Synodality as “walking together,” not relativism
Leo XIV calls for listening together to the Spirit, “to let ourselves be enriched by variety,” and for a prophetic witness of charity. Unity here is dynamic—but still ecclesial.
Doctrinal anchoring in the Magisterium
Paul VI’s warning about theology proceeding “by its own will” makes the boundary clear: communion requires obedience to the Church’s Magisterium as the universal rule and guardian of the deposit of faith.
Renewal that is interior and communal
John Paul II links renewal in Augustinian life to “starting afresh from Christ” and insists that deep spiritual life is the starting point for apostolic initiatives.
Family apostolate without spiritual distraction
For the Sisters of Nazareth, prayer and apostolic witness must be filtered by caring for families. The apostolate is real—but it must be integrated with common spiritual life so it does not become a source of internal imbalance.
A helpful illustration of ecclesial unity also appears in juridical history: the Church sometimes approves unions of religious congregations “so that … they be considered one body, one congregation … under one and the same law … and observe … regular observance.” While this is a canonical/legal dimension, it shows that Catholic unity is not purely “emotional”; it can be recognized and protected in Church governance.
The unity of the Sisters of Nazareth and the Augustinians is best understood as communion in Christ lived through obedient, charitable, and ecclesially faithful community life.
In a world where division often masquerades as independence, these two religious families—each with its own gifts—can help the Church see that true unity is not sameness; it is one heart and one mind in God, expressed through diverse charisms in the same faith and the same obedience.