Vocations: Once seen as dying out, monasteries are renovating or expanding their facilities to accommodate a surge in new members
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In the stillness of a balmy spring day, as a breeze floats through the Joshua trees and a clanging bell summons the men to prayer, the presence of God is palpable.
At least that is how Brother Vincent Ng justifies leaving his cushy life in Hong Kong in his 40s for this Catholic monastery in an isolated swath of Antelope Valley desert.
The most recent newcomer to St. Andrew's Abbey in Valyermo is one of hundreds of men nationally who have made monasteries their homes in the last seven years--a resurgence for a religious lifestyle that conventional wisdom said was dying. Although the number of incoming parish priests has dropped 7% each decade since the late 1960s, monasteries, from St. Andrews, 35 miles east of Palmdale, to South Carolina, have seen such a surge in interest in the monastic life that they are renovating or expanding their structures to accommodate new members.
More Vigorous Recruitment Cited
Theology experts attribute the increase to more active recruitment and to some Catholics' desire for a religious lifestyle they consider more progressive and spiritually fulfilling than those offered by other traditional institutions.
"The monastic impulse is loose in the world," said Michael Downey, theologian for Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, who leads the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. "The number of people who hear this deeply contemplative call has skyrocketed."
The expansion at St. Andrew's includes tripling the size of the abbey's acclaimed ceramics factory, rebuilding its wood-and-rock chapel and adding rooms to house 50 monks instead of 30.
For other monasteries that had become stagnant, the addition of just a few new acolytes can mean rebirth and a drive to put a new face on aging institutions: