There is a long tradition of ecumenical contacts and relations in the community. As a part of his monastic studies Walter Frere had visited Roman Catholic clergy and monasteries in France before he joined the community. In 1928 he became the first Anglican president of the Fellowship of St Alban and St Sergius after a visit to Russia in 1909. Strong links to Roman Catholics and Orthodox have remained in CR and has become even stronger in the age of globalism. On the initiative of the Roman Catholic Benedictine abbey of Trier in Germany, an official friendship, which grew from several visits, was made in 1983, and several brethren have built up links with the Orthodox Church in Romania in a mutual spiritual exchange. There are also links to European Lutherans through the international ecumenical networks of monastics.