Ultimately, the objective of the Order and of its Founder is to assist each person to create within themselves a safe space, from which they can deepen their spiritual journey. His vision is to create an intentional community at a grassroots level, in which the members of that community share in the process of supporting one another, and doing whatever they can to alleviate suffering in all sentient beings.

Since its inception in 1983, the Spiritus Community, functioning first as The Franciscan Companions of the Immaculata, and then expanding to include the broader Ecumenical Servant Franciscan Order, and post-denominational Contemplative Order of Compassion, has offered spiritual practitioners innovative ways to engage the spiritual teachings of Christ and Buddha through a broad selection of individual and group retreats, residential programs and authentic, non-sectarian monastic formation programs.

It is one of the dreams of the Khenpo to see a 20-acre monastic centre, located in South Florida, built to house the on-going monastic formation program, lay retreats and a central training facility for our social justice and peace outreach. The proposed centre would be comprised entirely of green, sustainable homes, made from recycled shipping containers (like the ones pictured here).

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Additionally, a more secluded, contemplative hermitage would be established, allowing the Servant-Father  (Khenpo Gurudas Sunyatananda) to spend more time writing, teaching and producing legacy video instruction for the future generations of monastics and contemplatives.

The ultimate vision of the Order is to create an international network of teachers devoted to nurturing the Light of wisdom and compassion that resides in the heart of all people and all spiritual traditions. By heralding a new, postdenominational and emergent spirituality – a spirituality that transcends and includes (but does not compete with) the past and present religions and spiritual traditions, which we call “the Spiritus Project”, we want to contribute to create an open space for discussion, and developing the project further, so that Emergent Spirituality becomes a viable option, visible in the lives of many people around the globe.

We affirm that such a world culture of respect, compassion and solidarity can emerge and trasnsform the planet into a place of wisdom and beauty, harmony and love.