Communities have been founded all over the world with various intentions and goals, so we have plenty of examples of that, since the beginning of the society itself.
Nowadays though the question that ponders in me is that the essence of such community must flow back to its structure and organization.
We know that many attempts to community fail in these days, people get together for various reasons, to have organic food, or share same spiritual beliefs, or even just to protect their land boundaries from unwanted neighbors. Many of them do not thrive in time, after two or three years, when differences arise, the communtiy dissolves. This is often seen in marriage too, and it is not surprising since community has actually a lot to do with this Sacrament.
In my personal quest for communities, I was also preparing our marriage, if I could not survive in a marriage, how can a community survive? When one marries, the vow done between spouses is also done to God, so there is this special third party to which the promise is made, and this brings the union to be strong in a supernatural sense. Wouldn't be the same in community if the families made a similar commitment to it? In my point of view the lack of commitment, brings failure to the communities, some people defend the freedom of families coming and going from the commmunity as needs arise, and the staying of a nuclear group of them to hold the group, but even the core people of the community may be susceptible of the attacks of the enemy.
On the other hand when we see the communities that endure time, like those of the anabaptists, there is a definite structure of leadership, I am reading now Better off, form Eric Brende, and in it he describes how the council of men gather for decisions, and in a way asking for the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth in any matter, but ultimately, after counsel of all those present it seems that the person in authority has the final say, and the decision ( part of the Ordnung) is enforced to all the community.
In the book Amish Life, a portrait of Plain Living, it says: One key to the enduring traditions and success of the Plain way of life is the scale on which is organized. Plain life is to a great extent built upon face-to face relationships established over time, often over generations. the scale of the Plain community is small and allows everyyone to know everyone, or someone else who does. The small scale creates an environment of mutual interest and aid that enhances both social control and social integration. The family is the key building block of Plain communities and families are typically large. Nearby families are joined together into church districts, when a number of families in a district becomes too large for the small Mennonite meeting house, or more than an Amish home can accommodate for church, the district divides. The small scale of life also means that individuals know who they are, and where they fit in their family, their community, and the world. There is little bureaucracy or organization above the face-to-face level in the Plain community. Among the Amish and Mennonites, leadership outside the family is provided by a minister, and above the minister is a bishop. Each bishop is responsible for two congregations, and the Bishops in a settlement meet together as a group from time to time.
Now in a Catholic community, it is different, we do not have the diversity of rules and interpretation of the scriptures as the protestant churches, and all the different plain people do, we have a clear unity in the teachings of the Church, with already the structure of the priesthood layed in place, and I am wondering how it could be to bring us, lay people, under a strong commitment for an initiative as such, with some of the same goals of marriage, e.g., the Glory of God, the sanctification of each other, the multiplication of the fruits of the Spirit, a witness to the world...
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/leo_xiii/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15051891_rerum-novarum_en.html
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_19310515_quadragesimo-anno_en.html
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