Membership
Get access to our online forum, where like-minded locals interact with, inform, and influence each other toward “whatever is good.”
Membership is free and open to anyone in the area who is looking for more Christian community—more friendship, more opportunities to grow in faith, more ways to cooperate with others in building a “civilization of love” in the Brandywine Valley.
Magazine
The Local Fold is a quarterly publication featuring original articles, essays, fiction, and art “of, for, and by” the faithful of the Brandywine Valley. It is printed in West Chester and delivered to your door.
Recent Issues
More about the Local Fold
A print-only magazine
Since you can't live a full Christian life without community, and you can't have community without a practical means of communication, we (St. Agnes parishioners Katie and Jules van Schaijik) decided to create one.
Launched in the spring of 2024, The Local Fold is a quarterly, print magazine "of, for and by" the lay faithful of the Brandywine Valley. We feature articles and essays of interest to local believers; opinions, fiction, poetry, and art composed by the authors and artists among us.
Online component
Then, since we’re also about growing relationships and cultivating lay agency, not just providing content, we added an online forum, where members can communicate with each other more regularly and readily than is possible in our busy and geographically spread-out three-dimensional lives. The forum includes a group blog, schedules of events, announcements, etc. Members can share ideas, initiate apostolates, register for events, and generally stay in touch with each other between issues of the magazine. (Subscribers are automatically members, but members need not be subscribers.)
Who we are and who we aren't
Our members are mainly, but not exclusively, lay Catholics who live in the Brandywine Valley area. (Priests, deacons, and nuns are more than welcome to join, as is any area Christian seeking more fellowship with other local believers.) We started at St. Agnes and are growing out from there.
We are simply Catholics, not affiliated with any subset or faction within the Church. As a group, we have no agenda beyond the desire to serve God and help each other live fuller, happier Christian lives.
Church Street House
The fullness of communion can’t be had without lots of in-person interaction, so we set up our Church Street House offices to serve as “the home of The Local Fold.” There we host get togethers, lectures, art shows, musical evenings, and common prayers with the aim of growing friendships and cooperating with each other in our common mission to serve God and do good.
Recent Issues