Pope Benedict XVI today told members of the Vatican Congregation dedicated to helping consecrated religious that monastic life must challenge the faithful to love God before all else. The Holy Father ...

Our world seems to be increasingly fractured. Sadly, our Church is becoming increasingly fractured as well. We’re still reeling from the festering wound of the sexual abuse crisis. We’ve seen recent ...

Recently, the German news magazine Der Spiegel ran an article on the decline of religious communities in Germany. It makes for depressing reading, telling of large religious houses with ever-dwindling ...

Archaeologists have discovered rare Byzantine-era gold coins and a delicate ring at a remote site in the northern Judean ...

TLC’s latest entry into the reality ring had me skeptical at the first mention. But after reading the synopses for the reality show The Monastery, I think this could be an interesting show. The ...

“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 ...

After lying dormant for decades, the seed of a calling to monastic life has sprung to life in the soul of Sevillian painter José María Méndez after hearing a line in the film “Libres” (“Free”) on ...

(The Conversation) — The symbolic image of the silently meditating nun or chanting monk often embodies the Buddhist religion. Such representation may make it appear that Buddhist teachings and ...

Assumption Abbey’s halls were once full of monks in simple robes. Now its cemetery is full of simple crosses. “We just lost two from deaths within three and a half weeks,” said the Rev. Cyprian ...