Novy Dur/003.jpgTrappist monk

The great monastic orders of the Christian West, the Benedictines and their relatives, the Cistercians, the Carthusians, the Camaldoese, exist down to our own day, even though the West cannot confidently anymore be considered Christian. But their numbers have decreased and for the most part are decreasing in a slow but steady manner. There is a great unknown involved in this development, one which sociologists, historians, and writers of every stripe have weighed in on, some saying it is the result of the upheavals of Vatican Council II, others the revolutionary changes within all of society from technological development to profound changes in social mores. I have no magic insight into the causes of this unsettling development, but I suspect it is reflective of all of the above. It seems, for whatever collective of causes, the traditional monastic orders are numerically in decline. The mean age of the orders members increases and the number of new members decreases.

If I do a Google search for monasticism I retrieve as many hits on the “new monasticism” as I do on the historical orders, such as the Cistercians and Benedictines. I take it the new monasticism is a movement of lay people, many married, who are attempting to live, with special focus on love of neighbor, especially the poor, the Gospel in community, often living together in the same house. It seems there is still an impulse to live a genuinely Christian life of sacrificial love, but within a different context than the cloister. I think this is wonderful; a sign the gospel is still lighting the flame of love and service within the hearts of men and women in our own time as it has throughout its history. And yet, I’m not so sure what the connection to monasticism is. Monastic life is something very particular, at least if I am to understand it historically, and is not really comprehensible if its definition is so broadened that any well meaning Christian community that lives communally can cal itself monastic, new or otherwise.

What are the elements that particularize monastic life, and those who live within its framework? One key attribute of the monk and nun has always been celibacy, the consecration of one’s entire being to God, including within this term, virginity (the avoidance of sexual relations), continence (the habit of mind of living chastely), and chastity (the moral virtue of purity). A life without celibacy just hasn’t ever been considered to be monastic, as the Latin root of the word monk , monachus, meaning one who lives alone, indicates. Interestingly, St. Benedict never mentions the promise of chastity in the monks vows, because it was considered so self-evidently a requirement to live a life of total dedication to God alone.

I’ll have future posts about some of the other essential elements of monastic life as it has been practiced throughout Christian history. But I return to my original question as to why so few people are entering the monastic orders today. Thomas Merton thought it had a lot to do with the interior life of modern man, which he felt suffers from a profound identity crisis, and one which the orders were ill equipped to handle. The result was many good vocations floundered and eventually left the monasteries. Maybe so, but the orders have made deep and principled changes, the result very much of a response to Vatican II and the needs of modern man. But the problem is not so much that large numbers of good vocations are leaving the monasteries, it’s that they aren’t ever coming at all.

So my question remains the same, and is one I only have sketchy ideas about why it has become so serious. The irony is that todays monasteries (and here again I am speaking about that which I know, namely the Cistercian monasteries) are living a monastic life that has gone through a prolonged self-examination with the result being that those men and women living in Cistercian monasteries today have been given the opportunity to live a true, honest, genuine form of monastic life, truly challenging and fully capable of providing the place to discover one’s true identity before God.

If others have ideas, please share them here. Does God still call men and women to monastic life today? If yes, why are so few responding? If no, why would this be? Are we just going through an historical anomaly, which will change with more people in the future once again responding to the call? Lots of questions, few answers.

Peace, and Happy New Year to all!