I was looking for homily guides for the 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C and I came by a website called Augustinian Friends. It is maintained by the Augustinians of the Villanova Province and is described as "An online ministry of the Province of Villanova." Just by reading some of the pages available, one can surmise that the Villanova Province has a "Way of Life Center" and that the website is directly associated with it.
What is exactly an Augustinian Friend?
The short answer -- there is a longer one -- to the question is
A group of people who are interested in Christian spirituality, Christian prayer, and Christian living – and who look to Saint Augustine for helpful ideas on all that – have come together to share prayer and thoughts in the spirit of Saint Augustine.
Clicking on the "Become A Friend" link (Get Involved -->Become A Friend), one finds this message (I have highlighted some of the elements in the paragraph):
There really are no membership requirements for the Augustinian Friends. If you’d like us to know you have joined, just send us an email. If you would like to be in contact with other Augustinian Friends, tell us that in the email. If you would like more material on Augustine, tells us that, too.
There are a number of groups within the Augustinian Friends. Some of those groups, themselves, require a commitment, some a temporary one, some a long-term one. Some of the groups don’t have any expectations at all. But to be a member of the Augustinian Friends themselves – that’s very simple. You can think of yourself as one of the Augustinian Friends whenever you show interest in Augustine and in his spirituality – of course, that doesn’t confer the right to speak for the group or to use it for any purpose other than that for which is was established – but it definitely gives you the invitation to find out more and to get as involved as you would like.
Given this description of the Augustinian Friends, I would think that the website is an online help for those who would later on might want to become Augustinian lay seculars or even members of the Order of St. Augustine. Take note of the line "You can think of yourself as one of the Augustinian Friends whenever you show interest in Augustine and in his spirituality". That is the old description for Augustinian-ness as Fr. Sicio gave it to us: "The love for Augustine and things Augustinian."
The front page of the website carries a link to a MySpace account for Augustine of Hippo. MySpace is like Friendster and the one who calls himself Augustine of Hippo is just an Augustine-enthusiast (a friar, perhaps?) who is popularizing Augustine.
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