When stories like this pop up it appears that the New Monasticism is just a recapiculation of monastic communities that have grown out of tough times, revival and desperate measures.

Richard Woodward writes in a travel account about beguines in Belgium.  The beguines,

Unlike sisterhoods that required a life spent apart from society under vows of chastity, these Catholic women looked for holiness outside monastic norms. Although they lived and prayed together within an enclave, partly as a form of mutual protection — some historians believe they banded together after losing their men to the Crusades, which left behind mainly criminals and louts — beguines were not confined to the cloister. Many ministered to the poor and sick outside their walls. Lifelong celibacy was not required either. They could leave the order and marry (but not return). ... more