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During the ferment of the Second Vatican Council in the early 1960s,this group of [Byzantine Rite] Franciscans extensively discussed how best toimplement the directives of the council in their own life and work. Of first
importance to most of its members was the necessity of bringing their own practice as a community into harmony with the authentic principles of Eastern Christian tradition. This meant once and for all laying aside the
specifically Latin Rite characteristics of the community, in its liturgy, theology, prayer, and rule of life, which it had inherited from the
Franciscan order.

The higher authorities in the order refused to sanction the vision of the majority of the members of the Byzantine Franciscan community. At this point Father Laurence and those who went with him asked for and received official
canonical permission to leave the Franciscan order for good, with a view to starting a new foundation. The purpose of this new monastic community would be to realize as much as possible the spirit and ideals of Eastern Christian
monastic tradition in and for the contemporary American setting. So it was that in May 1966, New Skete was established.

Among the many difficulties involved in beginning this new community was the issue of canonical recognition by the church. By reason of similarity of rite, New Skete should have been recognized by one of the Eastern Rite Catholic bishops. Because of political problems, these were unwilling to do this, and so Rome placed us under the jurisdiction of the nearby Latin Rite
bishop of Albany.

During the next ten years it became clear to us where we were actually finding the sources and inspiration of our way of life. Our research,
discussion, teaching, reflection, and practice showed that our roots lie primarily in the spirit and traditions of the Eastern Orthodox Church,
particularly as they were expressed in its first millennium of existence as well as in the best of its theology and practice today. The real rationale of our own religious life, in other words, had not so much to do with allegiance to Rome as it did with our desire to pursue the authentic life and spirit of the Christian East. It was not that we had come to see Rome as somehow wrong or the Orthodox Church as exclusively the true church. This was not our thinking on the matter at all. It was more a question of finding our rightful place in the universal Church, of participating in the living tradition and human community of the churches of the East that we had chosen to serve from the beginning.

Finally in 1979 New Skete was received into the Orthodox Church of America, one of the many Orthodox jurisdictions in this country today. We believe now as then that we can best serve God and the whole of the church and Christianity by calling ourselves officially what we believe we are in our praying, thinking, and living: Orthodox Catholic monks.

Most of our members were born and raised in one of the Western Christian traditions, and yet somehow we were attracted to the traditions of
Eastern Christianity. Because of this, we have always been especially sensitive to the divisions among the churches and in our own small way tried
to be a bridge of understanding between all peoples. We are interested in and respectful of believers and unbelievers alike and welcome them into our home. We try live our own lives simply and straightforwardly. And we are committed to doing whatever we can toward healing the centuries-old schism between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Father John Meyendorff, a
well-known theologian and friend of ours, once said to us, "You should properly be called western eastern Christians!" As a matter of fact, we have come to see that a truly Catholic Christianity is necessarily ecumenical, embracing differences while trying to be open to the entire human race.

"The real rationale of our own religious life, in other words, had not so much to do with allegiance to Rome as it did with our desire to pursue the authentic life and spirit of the Christian East."

New Skete's "reasonings" given in their book, "The Spirit of Happiness" are seen by many, if not most, Orthodox observers, to be unclear, if not completely conflicted. Their presence within Orthodoxy has been a cause of no small amount of criticism for the OCA, and it should also be known that many predict that they will leave Orthodoxy, more sooner than later. Only time will tell.