 The Monastic Program prepares individuals for profession as an Interfaith Monastic. It is designed for the contemporary person who wishes to pursue a formal program of study in preparation for taking spiritual vows and living a personal rule of life in an interfaith contemplative tradition. Joint Ordination-Monastic Program. For individuals who understand ministry as primarily emerging from a monastic place, the Joint Ordination-Monastic Program provides a way to combine ordination with the commitment to spiritual vows. All monastic students also participate in Advanced Contemplative Study. Study will benefit those who: *Are mature in their spiritual grounding and are committed to living a contemplative monasticism in the context of their life, work, and spiritual background.
*Are dedicated to the mystical study of the monastic texts and spiritual disciplines necessary for the growth of the heart.
*Plan to use their monastic vocation in service of their professional and personal commitments, having discovered the common silence intrinsic to all religions.
*Desire to combine Interfaith Monasticism with ordination to Interfaith Ministry. Who is an Interfaith Monastic? An Interfaith Monastic is a religious figure who commits one's life to deeply held vows, and who affirms this silence of the heart through daily acts of prayerful practice and spiritual openness inclusive of all creation. The usage of the designation "interfaith monastic" implies that the contemporary person seeks a new expression of the monastic archetype - the contemplative interiority that is intrinsic to humankind's spiritual nature - as a formal designation of spiritual vocation outside the role and institutional affiliation of the professional monk. | Since my early youth I have seen myself as a monk, but one without a monastery, or at least without walls other than those of the entire planet. And even these, it seemed to me, had to be transcended—probably by immanence—without a habit, or at least without vestments other than those worn by the human family. Yet even these vestments had to be discarded, because all cultural clothes are only partial revelations of what they conceal: the pure nakedness of total transparency only visible to the simple eye of the pure of heart. ~Raimundo Panikkar | Traditionally, monasticism seeks simplicity through renunciation and profession to a religious community. However, the modern situation calls for a different style of being monastic: to seek simplicity through fusion and integration, transforming the world through affirming the point of sacramentality in all of life. This new monasticism encourages a religious commitment outside the physical and sectarian walls of the monastery, in order that individuals may be inspired by the monastic ideal where ever they reside and in all phases of life -- single, partnered, married, or celibate. Because silence is the spiritual heart of monastic life, the challenge for the new monastic is to discover in one's own being the inner monastery that is both source and fruit of the meditative atmosphere that defines the historical monastery as a spiritual refuge from the world. The monastic way, therefore, is not the repetition of an historical tradition or religion, or the adherence to an externally prescribed rule, but the freedom to claim this original unity as the center of one's life and work undertaken for the sake of the world. Interfaith monasticism provides a process of spiritual formation in which to pursue one's longing to be closer to God. Study of sacred texts and monastic classics from around the globe assist the person in deepening the interior ground of silence and in sustaining a mystical commitment within a community of like persons. In taking interfaith monastic vows an interior and hidden process begins to take place in the depth of the person, which encourages the gradual and individual movement of the Spirit as it works to sanctify one's life and vocation. Interfaith Monastics realize that deep religious experience, and the contemplative vow to seek union with God, form the center point of unity in dialogue with other religions. They feel that it is their duty to find in themselves the unifying vision at the heart of monastic consciousness that leads to healing inner and outer divisions, and to mutual religious respect and reconciliation.
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Programs 
