FAQ

If you have debts, don’t let those get in the way of your discernment. Feel free to approach us. 

A man must, however, be free of all personal and credit card debts by the time he enters as a candidate to the monastery. We will accept educational debts up to $20,000. 

When men approach us and they let us know they have BOTH credit card debt and educational debt, we work with them to find a solution. We do this by reminding the men to pay ONLY the minimum on the educational debts, but work to put every available dollar to paying off the credit card debt. We will even provide a member of our staff who is trained in accounting to help establish a budget. Tackle the credit cards first! 

Once the man has that credit card and personal debt paid, he can then begin looking at applying to our community. With the Abbot's approval, we will consider allowing a man to apply who has "educational" debts requiring repayment of education grants and loans. If these are excessive and beyond $20,000, then we will ask a man to first repay a substantial portion of the educational debts before we allow him to apply. If it is below $20,000, then we will allow him to apply. If he is accepted, when he does arrive we would assume the minimum monthly payments while the man is in formation. If he leaves formation, then he also takes the remaining debts with him. 

As for men who have automobile debts, you can still apply but you will need to sell your car upon entering the community so that the car loan is paid off. This is common with most all of our applicants. 

To reiterate, if you have debts, then don't let that hinder you in your discernment. Contact us, visit us, and don't let the burden of debt overwhelm your vocational call. 

You must be a single, Catholic man over the age of 18.

If you are younger than 18, then you can certainly start your discernment by visiting for a short stay at our Coury House Retreat Center with your parent or guardian. Once you turn 18, then you can come for a private visit or retreat where you can immerse yourself more fully in our monastic way of life. 

It is possible, but there has to be clarity on a few matters:

You can apply to our monastery only after you have received a declaration of nullity from the Church for your previous marriage. Please speak with your parish priest about this process. Likewise, you must have fulfilled all obligations for any children resulting from the prior marriage and this includes alimony and child support payments. Once this has occurred, then we would be honored to consider your application. Fr. Patrick from our Abbey would be happy to speak with you further since he walked this same path a number of years ago.

Two of our present monks were previously diocesan priests. As they will tell you, the process is not easy and requires careful planning because bishops are not always as open to the Church's clear preference for diocesan priests to enter monastic life.

First, if you feel you have a monastic calling, you need to come here for a private retreat to get to know our Abbey. If it becomes clear in your retreat that this is not your calling, you have lost nothing. To be candid (and not to sugar-coat this), virtually all diocesan priests taking this initial step determine that monastic life is just too hard, too much of a sacrifice, and not for them. 

However, if you think this is where God is calling you after that initial visit, you will need to speak with your Bishop or Religious Superior. They must permit you to explore this life deeper by allowing you to make a more extensive vocation discernment stay of a week or so throughout two or three stays. If you still feel this is your calling, you must apply to your Bishop or Superior for permission to apply to our monastery. If you are accepted for candidacy, your Bishop or Superior must grant you a leave of absence to begin formation. You will still be incardinated in your own diocese or religious community until you make solemn profession as a monk in our Abbey.

For most men, the time from that initial visit to entrance into candidacy is about two years. Once you begin formation as a monk, you will no longer function as a priest until the completion of your novitiate. You may concelebrate at masses, but all other priestly work will cease as you become a monk. Abbot Elijah from our Abbey would be happy to speak with you further since he has most recently trod this path from diocesan to monastic life. 

Saint Benedict understood well that sometimes our initial choices were not our final choices. For that reason, he allowed monasteries to accept transfers from other monasteries as well as the transfer of diocesan priests to become monastic. At Subiaco we have a number of monks that began initially living different states of life to God finally calling them to our monastery. Examples from our own monastic community would be:

• A man started in the diocesan seminary program and decided God was calling him to community life; he simply did not want to spend his life alone in a parish for the rest of his years. He first tried the Dominicans and found that he actually needed stability instead of constant transfers in assignments. He is now a solemnly vowed monk and priest of our community living a stable communal life.
• A man started in diocesan life, was ordained, and served his diocese in multiple pastoral assignments. He was led by God to consider the contemplative life and is now a solemnly vowed monk of our community.
• A man started in the diocesan seminary program and decided God was calling him to community life. He tried the Franciscans and found that he needed stability and much more contemplation. He is now a solemnly vowed monk of our community.
• Two men were in a religious community of Franciscans which was growing smaller and nearing the point of dissolution. Both found they wanted stability and the contemplative life at the second stage of their life. Both are now solemnly vowed monks of our community.
• A man became a solemnly professed monk in another monastic community but it was nearing dissolution. He transferred his stability to our community.

So, feel free to reach out to our Abbot for an initial and confidential discussion. 

It depends on why you left or were asked to leave.
  
If you left because you discerned that you were not called to the sometimes solitary diocesan life and wanted a life lived in community instead, then you really should consider monastic life. If you left because you did not feel called to use your skills solely within parish life but wanted other ministry options, then you really should consider monastic life. If you left because you are an introvert and did not like the constant “on-demand” life of a parish priest, then you really should consider monastic with its balance of introverts and extroverts. If you left because you wanted more of a balance in prayer and work in your life, then you really should consider monastic life. 

All of these reasons are not points of failure from the seminary, but rather points of discernment that you were simply not called by God to diocesan life. It's important to understand that we monastic don't have lower standards than diocesan life (you will note that both our brothers and priests usually have more extensive advanced degrees than diocesan priests or are professional artisans at their crafts or trades). We simply have different standards that more closely align with monastic life.

If you were asked to leave the seminary for psychological or sexual reasons, then community life might not be for you. This may seem strange, but monastic life does not help you escape from those issues. In fact, those issues become even more intense with monastic life because of the particular nature of our lifestyle. Instead, we would encourage you to begin to professionally address those issues in your life. 

We are a smoke-free monastery, so will have to stop tobacco use and vaping by the time you enter the formation program.

We have a number of monks who considered monastic life even while they were in the OCIA process to come into full communion with the Catholic Church. Your first step is to approach your priest and discuss with him how to begin the OCIA, Order of Christian Initiation of Adults process at your local parish.  Once you have become Catholic or come into full communion with the Church, you should then begin involving yourself in parish life. In these first two years after becoming Catholic, the Church refers to you as a neophyte... a new Catholic! During these two years, visit our Abbey and become involved here to learn if God is truly calling you to the monastic life. At the end of those two years, you would be free to apply for entrance to our monastery.

On the one hand, we are not accepting international applicants at this time. You might prayerful consider three other options:

1-One Benedictine monastery in the USA that is adept at considering foreign applicants is the Abbey of Christ in the Desert. You can find their contact information by clicking HERE.

 2-If you are from the continents of Africa or Asia, then you might want to consider contacting the St. Ottilien Congregation of Missionary Benedictines which maintains houses around the world.  You can find their contact information by clicking HERE.

 3-Ideally, you should explore monasteries within your country or region and not simply in the USA. You can find a full list of Benedictine monasteries at our Benedictine Confederation atlas by clicking HERE. 

On the other hand, if you are a citizen of another country and have been living in the U.S.A. for a few years, then contact us for a possible visit. We cannot have you join our monastery just to extend your VISA or get a green card, but you can get to know us and wait until you are naturalized.

NO! Each man who enters the monastery has access to a phone. He can call out whenever he wants, and he is given that common phone number to receive calls. In fact, most of our men use skype, google meet, zoom, facetime or other platforms to converse with their families regularly. A number of the monks also have cell phones (Please note that as a candidate and novice you will not have access to your cell phone). You will get two weeks of vacation a year to visit with family and they can always come to visit you in the monastery at any time of the year. 

Heavens, no! Some monks watch movies every week in our movie room from movies in our video library or by streaming. Our monks are eclectic when it comes to music styles. Monks listen to Classical, Country-Western, Bluegrass, Rap, Classic Rock, Indie music, EDM, Eastern and Western Chant, Jazz, the Blues, Metal, etc. Most of our monks use the free Spotify or Pandora for listening to their music. A few of the monks play video games. What is important in monastic life is reordering of priorities and not allowing pastimes to interfere with our prayer, work, or community life. You will definitely have to assess each of your interests and make a determination with the Abbot if they are truly helping you grow in holiness. 

Once you are accepted into our candidacy program, you will have medical, dental, and eye insurance provided just like the other monks.

We traditionally accept men on these dates: February 2, May 2, August 6, November 1. However, a different entrance date is possible with abbatial approval. The application process MUST be completed at least one month before the entrance date so we can notify you of acceptance or rejection.