“When a monk gives his life to God, he has to express that in a physical way, not just an intellectual way, and singing involves the whole body and the mind and the soul, and so it’s a wonderful way of keeping this relationship between God and the monk,” says Father Cassian, prior of the Benedictine monastic community in Norcia, Italy that was damaged extensively in Central Italy’s recent earthquake. More →

September 2, 2016

“We’re here as a sign of God’s presence,” says Father Edwin Leahy, headmaster of St. Benedict’s Prep School in Newark, New Jersey. “That’s who we are as monks. We take a vow of stability of place, so even though the neighborhoods change around us on a regular basis, we stay.” More →

June 10, 2016

“We live by the work of our hands and also have some left for helping out those who are maybe less fortunate,” says the abbess of St. Mary’s, Ireland’s only Cistercian monastery for women. More →

March 16, 2012

“Is there anyone here who yearns for life and desires to see good days?” Those stirring words come at the beginning of one of the most durable spiritual guides of all time, the Rule of St. Benedict. More →

October 30, 2009

R & E takes a look at the life of a Trappist monk at Mepkin Abbey in South Carolina. “It’s a life of transformation. It’s about a person becoming more like Christ,” says Father Aelred Hagen. More →

February 21, 2003