About Us
“He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart.” -Isaiah 40:11
Welcome to the main website of Shepherd’s Heart Ministries on the worldwide web. We’re so glad you stopped by. Please feel free to look around and discover more about us, who we are, what we’re about, and the many ministries we are involved in. These pages will give you a glimpse into the world of our Cetlic Christian ministry and what it means to be a “free catholic.” We hope you discover something new not only about us but perhaps about yourself as well.
If you feel called to do so, please feel free to contact us for more information. Perhaps you feel that tugging upon your heart to be a part of something different, something intentional, something meaningful, to be a part of our ministry. We welcome your inquiries and will help you as best we can to discover where God might be calling you. We are indeed looking for a few good priests to join our ranks. Perhaps you yearn to take part in a modern and poetic worship experience that has its roots in an ancient and spiritual culture. Maybe you wish to be a part of a church so small that your individual talents and abilities are celebrated and not lost in a sea of people. Maybe you’ve been thrown away by a “church” because of your questioning, your race, your economic status, your theology, your sexuality, how you choose to love another, or even how you dress and you need a safe place to once again experience God’s love. And maybe, just maybe you want to develop a closer relationship with the God of Love, who you know must be out there, and you just need to find the right community to help you along. Are you a Roman Catholic looking for a new church home because of the rigidity of a seemingly conservative and out of touch church but unwilling to give up the Sacraments in doing so? You might be asking yourself, “are Old Catholic orders valid?” Please take a look at what the Roman Catholic Church has to say about our holy orders. Whatever your reason for being here, welcome! We think you’ll find us to be a little different than the average “church” on the corner.
Shepherd’s Heart Ministries covers a multitude of ministries and ecclesiastical structures all in communion with the Ecumenical Free Catholic Communion, an autocephalous sacramental communion welcoming all through its doors.
We are a Diocese: The Diocese of the Shepherd’s Heart, is a community of believers, centered on Jesus Christ, holding to the faith and traditions of the apostles as expressed in Holy Scripture and the ancient creeds of the undivided Church: The Apostle’s Creed, The Nicene, The Creed of Saint Athanasius. We are a Christ-centered and Trinitarian people, believing the Sacraments impart the grace which they signify, and that Apostolic Succession unifies and empowers us to administer the Sacraments and to proclaim the Gospel given to the Church by our Lord Jesus Christ, the author of our salvation. We freely accept the continued revelation of the Word of God through the Holy Spirit and the call to love God with all of our heart, mind, and soul while loving our neighbors as our self in the same sacrificial way that Christ has loved us. We really believe and take to heart – In Essentials Unity, In Non-Essentials Liberty, In All Things Charity. We are a diocese of compassionate and liberal traditionalists.
We are a Religious Order: The Order of the Shepherd’s Heart is an ecumenical and yet catholic religious community with deep Celtic Christian roots. Shepherd’s Heart is a diverse order with people from many different Christian denominations. We are an ecumenical order, while we offer a church home to those looking for such, we also encourage people to remain in their current denomination while joining our fellowship and community. Our group is still very small with only a handful of brothers and sisters located primarily in the Ozark mountains but we do have several members scattered to the four corners of the States.
We are a Christian Seminary: Whithorn School of Theology (WST) is a spiritual continuation of the tradition of Celtic Christian monks of long ago in the education of women and men in the theology and philosophy of the Christian Faith. WST was established primarily as a seminary of the Order of the Shepherd’s Heart for use by the Ecumenical Free Catholic Communion for the preparation and training of those who have been called to serve God and His Church through an ordained ministry but is open to all qualified applicants on an equal basis, regardless of denomination. WST does not discriminate on the basis of age, gender, race, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, theological beliefs, or jurisdictions.
And We Engage In: various other ministries as the Holy Spirit calls us to from time to time. We operate, as have monks for hundreds and hundreds of years, small enterprises that fund our various ministries. These various offerings include, a small in-house publishing concern, St. Columba Press dedicated to preserving Catholic and Celtic Christian knowledge and various liturgies and documents. In conjunction with St. Columba Press we also operate a retail outlet in the form of Shepherd’s Heart Books and Gifts, an online Ebay store.
We Are Inclusive: Believing as Saint Isaac of Syria, “Do not try to discriminate the worthy from the unworthy, but let all people be equal in your eyes for a good deed,” we do not discriminate and hold no regard for a person’s race, color, age, gender, sexual orientation, preference, nationality, socioeconomic class, nor a person’s state of grace. We are fully committed to inclusivity and our support for the LGBTQIAPP (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, questioning, intersexual, asexual, pansexual, polyamorous) and anyone who would seek to find a spiritual home within the Shepherd’s Heart is unwavering and unapologetic.
