A 40-year-old Christian commune faces an uncertain future

— As fall shifts into winter in Hardwick, Massachusetts, temperatures are unseasonably high for November, and a 34-acre community built by a homesteading couple nearly four decades ago stands remarkably quiet. “I’m finding it’s okay for me to say, well maybe this will not thrive,” Suzanne Shanley, co-founder of the Catholic residential Agape community, said. “It’s really left in the hands of God eventually, whatever that might mean.” Lifelong teachers and peace activists, Catholics Suzanne and Brayton Shanley, age 79 and 77, have been on this land in central Massachusetts since 1987, when they cleared dense, rural New England forest to construct the buildings that would house an intentional lay community, anchored in the principles of nonviolence and sustainability. “Communes have to attract new members to stay alive, and it’s pretty clear that most communally minded young adults prefer to start new communities rather than join established ones,” he said. “Agape’s not alone in seeing changes.” Suzanne said that she had hoped that by this stage in her life, Agape would be populated with other homesteaders and peace-minded individuals.