Our world seems to be increasingly fractured. Sadly, our Church is becoming increasingly fractured as well. We’re still reeling from the festering wound of the sexual abuse crisis. We’ve seen recent ...

Recently, the German news magazine Der Spiegel ran an article on the decline of religious communities in Germany. It makes for depressing reading, telling of large religious houses with ever-dwindling ...

Monasteries look like idyllic places where time stands still, and your soul enjoys complete peace. These stone buildings with their gardens and intricate iconography look like heaven on earth, but the ...

Before entering a Buddhist monastery in Bhutan, I enjoyed one final indulgent meal knowing that life was about to change ...

TLC’s latest entry into the reality ring had me skeptical at the first mention. But after reading the synopses for the reality show The Monastery, I think this could be an interesting show. The ...

The symbolic image of the silently meditating nun or chanting monk often embodies the Buddhist religion. Such representation may make it appear that Buddhist teachings and practices are grounded in ...

For some, the term monasticism may bring up images of chanting monks or helpful nuns. For Matt Scraper, monasticism is an important part of his life and faith as an elder in the Oklahoma Con­ference ...

Benedict’s Rule became the gold standard of monastic life. Listen!” wrote Benedict at the beginning of his monastic Rule. Writing around A.D. 540, he offered a way of listening in a setting where ...

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 ...

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 ...

In the damp green hills of Brittany stands Abbaye de Boquen, a small 12th century monastery, where cloistered Cistercian monks have prayed and tilled the soil in silent serenity for centuries. In ...