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 ...

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove is a co-founder of Rutba House, a New Monastic community in Durham, NC. He is also author of several books, two of which, The Wisdom of Stability and a contemporary ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Christian monks once saved the cultural treasures of the western world from barbarian invasions, and now a major four-day conference in Rome is examining how modern culture affects monasticism. “We’ve ...

Much copy and debate has been generated by the Pew Foundation's recent snapshot of American religion. A lot of the conversation has sounded like the daily roundup of a religious stock market: who is ...

This expansive illustrated guide to Christian monasticism offers a history of various monastic traditions and shows the rise of monasticism in different parts of the world. Although the text can be ...

It was a joy to spend the month of June at my alma mater in Atchison, Kan., as my husband continues his formation with the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (Focus). Nearly every classroom ...