How would you explain monasticism to Protestants who feel Christians should be out in the world, seeking to convert lost souls? To them, monks/nuns are hiding from society’s ills, not helping to mend ...

The monastic alternative, at least in the West, has become so deeply unfashionable that most people no longer consider the possibility, but there is, at least to me, something deeply appealing about ...

When Judith Valente, a Benedictine oblate, leads contemplative retreats both online and in monasteries around the country, she has been noticing that laypeople — whether Catholic or ...

Part two of a three-part series. The dwindling number of vocations to priesthood, religious orders and monastic life make it clear that traditional religious life no longer speaks to newer generations ...

Monasticism developed, in part, because people were seeking silence. Mario Mifsud In some parts of the world, a mysterious “droning sound,” similar to a “a diesel engine idling nearby,” has been ...

This is part one of a series. Although the term "new monasticism" has been floating around ether of the contemplative world for several decades, it has remained difficult to define. Catholic ...

This scholarly work is a valuable contribution to the overall history of monasticism in Ireland as it explores “the hidden years” of that tradition, following its much vaunted “golden age” when, as ...