To Be A Monk
Why not consider the monastic path?
We feel that to live our life skillfully it is important that one be in reasonably good physical, mental and spiritual health. To embark on this life-giving journey we would want you to have what it takes to grow in interdependence as well as to be unmarried, Catholic, free of obligations arising from the needs of family members or previous marriages, or from debt. You would need to have enough emotional maturity to accept the challenges of community living.
We Cistercians are called not so much to an Order as to a particular monastery. And so it is vital that anyone inquiring about our life have a real sense of being at home here with this specific community and this unique geography
The discerning process of becoming a monk consists of these stages:
Exploration
This phase consists of gathering information about our life through contact with the vocation director, Br. Michael.
Visits to our monastery
Should you and our vocation director consider the matter worth pursuing, we would invite you to come for a visit.
During your time with us you would pray, work, eat and interact with the monks. This would give you a sense of what our community is like.
We feel that you would find that prayer and quiet pondering would order the tone of your initial visit. Should you and the vocation director agree that you might possibly be called to this community, more serious discernment would then be indicated. At this point, you would be invited to visit with a few monks to talk the matter over with them in a climate of mutual respect.
Live-in observership
After these conversations should you and these monks conclude the matter might be worth pursuing further, you would be invited to live inside the monastery. During these two months, you would live the full life of the monk.
For more reading, see Conferences
Is the Cistercian Monastic Life for you? See VIDEO