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Comments by michael ashamu on Sunday, October 2, 2005 at 00:00 IP Logged IP Logged
I feel a great attraction to a solitary and silent life! And a love for the Carthusians! is it possible to have a word from you about them? 
The Carthusians were founded by St. Bruno, 1032-1101, in the year 1084. But first he placed himself under the direction of St. Robert of Molesme who became one of the founders of our Cistercian Order. Ever since then our two Orders have shared mutual respect and prayers. The Carthusians put more emphasis on an eremitical way of life compared to the Cistercian emphasis on community. A strong attraction to long hours of solitude is one sign of a Carthusian vocation, while a strong desire for a community is more proper to our Cistercian vocation.

Comments by Paul on Sunday, September 11, 2005 at 00:00 IP Logged IP Logged
Thanks for answering my previous question. I have another. It might be relevant for other people also. What should someone do who is going to enter a monastery soon, and in the mean time is living a quiet life of prayer, but attending Sunday Mass is detrimental to their spiritual life due to the huge crowds of people and excessive noise? I attend Mass everyday. But Sunday Mass is the worst hour of the week for me because my recollection is ruined and loose all sense of God’s presence. Receiving the Body and Blood is even more difficult because what is supposed to be the summit of my contemplative life is immediately interrupted by irrelevant announcements, banging on musical instruments, and the herding of the people outside the church. After trying for many months to bear with it I am thinking about just not going on Sundays anymore. I suppose there are others out there who have the same experience. Could you give some advice for those of us who are called to the contemplative life, Trappists or Carthusians etc, but currently have to go to an anti-contemplative parish? Thanks, Paul 
This is a good question to ask during the year dedicated by Pope John Paul II to the Eucharist. In the General Instruction on the Roman Missal we read: "All other liturgical celebrations and all works of the Christian life flow from the Eucharist and have it as their end. It is of the greatest importance that the celebration be planned in such a way that it brings about a participation in body and spirit that is conscious, active, full, and motivated by faith, hope and charity. But even when this is not possible the Eucharistic celebration still retains its effectiveness and worth because it is the action of Christ and the Church," (chapter 1:16-18).

Even when conditions are worse than you describe, even if the Eucharistic sacrifice was celebrate outdoors under a stormy sky, with the faithful surrounded by people openly mocking Christ, uttering curses, and gambling in his Presence, it would still retain its effectiveness and worth, and be deserving of our presence and participation, like the Mystery it makes present, namely the crucifixion and death of Christ on the Cross. May nothing separate us from sharing in this love of Christ present in every Mass no matter how adverse the circumstances.

At the same time, may we also continue to desire and foster celebrations that are contemplative and expressive of the worth of this Mystery. For, in the General Instruction we also read, "Christ becomes present through transubstantiation, but also by that spirit and expression of reverence and adoration in which the Eucharistic liturgy is carried out," (Introduction, # 3).   

Comments by Paul on Friday, September 9, 2005 at 00:00 IP Logged IP Logged
Do most Trappist monasteries now allow monks, if called by the Holy Spirit, to live as hermits on the property? Must a monk be old and gray before he is considered experienced enough to do this? I realize that it is extraordinary and not the ’goal’ of the cenobitic life etc. Thanks, Paul 
The Constitutions and Statues of our Order provide for this: "The abbot, having listened to his council, may permit a brother to lead an eremitical life. The hermit remains under the authority of the abbot. If the hermit is a cleric and lives outside the monastic property, the abbot should seek the consent of the local Ordinary," (Statue 13.3.A). There is no age limitation.

In St. Benedict's Rule for Monasteries, by which we make our solemn vows, he writes, "The second kind [of monks] are the Anchorites or Hermits: those who, no longer in the first fervor of their reformation, but after long probation in a monastery, having learned by the help of many bretheren how to fight against the devil, go out well armed from the ranks of the community to the solitary combat of the desert. They are able now, with no help save from God, to fight single-handed against the vices of the flesh and their own evil thoughts," (Rule, Ch. 1).

Comments by Frank Schuetz on Monday, August 15, 2005 at 00:00 IP Logged IP Logged
Do you have brothers, as well as priests, in your monastery? Also do you serve the community around you, or do you mostly keep to your monastery? One more question, what kind of an educational background must you have to be accepted into your loving order. 
We do have brothers as well as priests. Or, to put it another way: we are all brothers, and some are ordained for ministry in the community.

Neighbors around the monastery frequently come to celebrate the Eucharist with us, and some attend the Liturgy of the Hours. Our ministry to the wider community is one of intercessory prayer and witness to a heavenly homeland. In order that our lives may be wholly orientated to prayer we do not share in the ministry of the archdiocese in parishes, hospitals or schools.

Candidates are expected to have completed high school but they are not required to have a college degree. After high school, an aspirant who hasn't attended college is expected to have some work experience. All candidates need to be free of debts and other obligations.

Comments by Marion Tuason on Saturday, July 30, 2005 at 00:00 IP Logged IP Logged
im from the philippines and here’s my question: How does one prepare for the school of the Lord’s service when he finds himself needed by his family? my mom died last august and my dad is with someone. i am left with a younger brother (23 yrs old) and my grandma. As the eldest i am bound by obligation to cater to their needs, to love and serve them. i am now 26 going 27 on september this year. I am now an adult, yet i feel at a lost on what to do with my life. the other half of me wants to explore the possibility of spending my life in a monastic community, while the other bothers me with family issues. i believe i am now in that stage where i can decide for myself. i want to be generous to God and others but i just dont know to place things in perspective. please enlighten me. thank you very much :)
Your conscientiousness about family obligations shows that you want to put God's will first in your life. You are to be respected for your willingness to love and assist your grandmother and brother. At the same time, apparently God has given you a desire for monastic life, and may be calling you to become a monk when the time is right. To help you in your personal discernment, visiting the Trappist community of Our Lady of the Phillipines would be a good first step. While there, you might ask for spiritual direction from one of the monks, or from the vocation director. Working together, it will be easier to discern if God is calling you to our way of life. If so, part of your preparation while taking care of your family obligations first, will be to grow in your life of prayer where you are, and to make frequent visits to the monastery so that one day you will be able to be received into the community.  

Comments by James Keetch on Wednesday, July 27, 2005 at 00:00 IP Logged IP Logged
How has the life of a Trappist monk changed since the book "The Sign of Jonas" was written (beyond general Vatican II changes in liturgy? Thanks for your attention to my question...and congratulations on a very impressive website. Sincerely, James G. Keetch 
Two major changes in our way of life that occured at the time of the General Chapter of Abbots in 1969 were 1) the introduction of private rooms for sleeping, reading, and praying, and 2) changes in our practice of silence. The use of private rooms increased the amount of solitude available for our life of prayer. The rule of silence, it was never a vow of silence, was changed to allow speaking in certain places and times, without using sign language. Another change came much later: extending Benedictine and Cistercian spirituality to associates. During the past thirty years our Order has made many foundations in Third World countries and some of our older communities have benefitied from help provided by these foundations. Many our our houses have engaged in building programs to replace aging structures. But the most important development is yet to come, namely a desire for the contemplative way of life among young adults. 

Comments by Andrew on Monday, June 27, 2005 at 00:00 IP Logged IP Logged
Are there still monks at the monastery of La Trappe in France?
Yes. The refounding of La Trappe dates back to 1814. It holds second place in the Order, preceeded only by the Abbey of Citeaux. You may send e-mail to the community at La Trappe using this address: la.trappe@wanadoo.fr  

Comments by Thomas Scheibelhut on Monday, June 27, 2005 at 00:00 IP Logged IP Logged
I feel that I may be called to a contemplative monastic life. In particular, I feel I may be called to Trappist or possibly Carthusian. I am going to be doing short visits to various Trappist abbeys this summer (possibly yours). When I discern, should I be as "pickey" as to decline an abbey if they do not have gregorian chant in their liturgies? I have a great love for the beauty and reverence of gregorian chant. And when I have imagined myself in a monastery, it has always been me singing gregorian chant with my community brothers. Does New Melleray have gregorian chant? If not, why so? Thanks for your time and God bless. 
Thomas, may the Lord bring to completion in you the good work he has begun by drawing you to contemplative monastic life. The hermit life of Carthusians and the community life of Cistercian Trappists are very different, so your intention to visit abbeys before making a decision will help your discernment.

Your love of Gregorian chant, plainsong, shines out clear and strong. It is the traditional music of the Latin rite, and was sung throughout the Church and religious communities until venacular languages began to replace the use of Latin in the Liturgy. Some communities have continued to use Latin in their liturgical celebrations because of the unsurpassed beauty of Gregorian Chant, such as Beuron in Germany and Solesmes in France. A few communities in the United States have retained Latin or returned to Latin, partly for the sake of plainsong.

Gregorian Chant is being used with English texts in some antiphonaries and hymnals, as in the fine compositions of Fr. Chrysogonus Waddell of Gethsemani Abbey. These are used side by side with more contemporary music in most of our Trappist communities.

The monks of New Melleray Abbey elected to use venacular in our liturgies when it was permitted by Vatican II. The desire to pray in our native tongue prevailed over the use of Latin and traditional plainsong. We continue to use Gregorian Chant with English texts in parts of our liturgy, but modern music predominates.   

Comments by Mike Bergman on Sunday, June 5, 2005 at 00:00 IP Logged IP Logged
I commend you for a well organized and informative Web site. I noticed that after WWII there were 150 monks at the monastery, only 34 or so now today, and new novitiates joining at a much slower rate. I thus have two questions: 1) Is there indeed a decline in interest and commitment to your order? 2) If so, what is the order’s view of that and what might it portend for the ongoing viability of the monastery? 
There is a decline of interest; and there is a decline of commitment among those who enter. Unless there is an increase in vocations to our communities they will close.

This decline of interest and commitment reflects changes in society at large, evident in the decline of commitment to religious and moral values, to Church attendance, to marriage, to employment, and to older city and country ways of living.

Over the centuries monastic communities have opened and closed, expanded and contracted. Today there are fewer monks and nuns than in 1960, but more monasteries: ther are more than twenty new monasteries of monks and as many of nuns in our Order since 1960. Many of these are in Third World countries. Except for cultural diffences, these new, expanding communities are living the same way of life as in our older monasteries.

The challenge facing young monastic candidates today who desire a more conservative traditional form of life, whether in Europe, America, or the Third World, is to embrace the good that they find within existing communities and to gradually foster the good that is missing. And the challenge facing our aging communities is to learn how to fulfill the good aspirations of young candidates. The young need to learn patience, and the old need to be detached from what is not essential.

Within twenty years all monasteries that are still existing will be governed by the younger, newer members. May their enthusiasm for the things of God be a new springtime in monastic life!  

Comments by Bruce Flickinger on Tuesday, May 17, 2005 at 00:00 IP Logged IP Logged
As an Anglican priest, desiring to be received into the Roman communion under the programme for Anglican clergy to exercise the vocational call to priesthood as a Roman Catholic priest, should this be completed prior to seeking a vocation as a Trappist Monk? 
Yes, because priests may be accepted as candiates for the monastic way of life, but not all monks are called by the abbot to ministerial priesthood. If you are called to be a priest first, then you may also become a monk; but if you are a monk first, you are called to offer your will in obedience to the abbot's discernment about the need for priestly ministry in the community.

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