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A Monk's Tale
Oct. 7th, 2002 03:21 pmA week and a half ago, I went to visit a monk. He was a very nice man, as one might expect. He also had a razor-sharp business brain and a better idea of what makes a good story than the majority of people I've interviewed down the years. He and his brothers in the order had run rings around some of the property types who thought that the monks would be easy pickings.
It became clear that there was a two ring structure to the abbey. An outer ring of monks dealt with the world, and many of them had years' worth of experience in all forms of business. There was a hard core of more spiritual, less worldly monks, who were protected by this outer ring. I wasn't getting anywhere near them.
I was there on fairly flimsy pretenses: I wanted to do a piece on how the property industry works (or doesn't) with religious orders. I really wanted to go because monks are so damn cool. They only let me in because I'm a committed Christian (although a dastardly Protestant rather than a Catholic).
An yeah, I really think that monks and the idea of monastic life is cool. Look at it this way: most people aren't even prepared to give up the financial rewards of "normal" careers to go into nursing and ambulance work. This guy was prepared to give up all the freedoms we take for granted to devote himself to his faith. I suspect many people reading this will think that rather bizarre, but as an active and practicing Christian, I can actually see the appeal.
Very few other people can, it appears. Part of the reason I was there was that the school the monks used to run because of a combination of a lack of funding and pupils. Getting new novitiates for the Abbey - they're a Benedictine order - is a struggle. They've got two at the moment, and one of the property guys at the interview mentioned that this was a cause for some celebration.
I'm not going to go into great detail about what was said in the interview - that'll be appearing in my feature in the mag in a few weeks. What I will say is how wonderful and refreshing it was to meet someone whose core values aren't materialistic, but who had a realistic appraisal of the way that money defines your ability to do what you want. It was unbelievably cheering to meet a man who doesn't let sex define him as more and more media-led consumer culture does. It was, in a way, stepping back into the recent past, no more than 50 years, perhaps, into a world with a very different set of values, ones which could still support a school and abbey.
That world had passed, and with it the support system for the abbey. It will continue, perhaps for many years to come, But unless the world's values move again, there will be fewer and fewer people like Father Oliver, and to my mind, that's a terrible loss.
It became clear that there was a two ring structure to the abbey. An outer ring of monks dealt with the world, and many of them had years' worth of experience in all forms of business. There was a hard core of more spiritual, less worldly monks, who were protected by this outer ring. I wasn't getting anywhere near them.
I was there on fairly flimsy pretenses: I wanted to do a piece on how the property industry works (or doesn't) with religious orders. I really wanted to go because monks are so damn cool. They only let me in because I'm a committed Christian (although a dastardly Protestant rather than a Catholic).
An yeah, I really think that monks and the idea of monastic life is cool. Look at it this way: most people aren't even prepared to give up the financial rewards of "normal" careers to go into nursing and ambulance work. This guy was prepared to give up all the freedoms we take for granted to devote himself to his faith. I suspect many people reading this will think that rather bizarre, but as an active and practicing Christian, I can actually see the appeal.
Very few other people can, it appears. Part of the reason I was there was that the school the monks used to run because of a combination of a lack of funding and pupils. Getting new novitiates for the Abbey - they're a Benedictine order - is a struggle. They've got two at the moment, and one of the property guys at the interview mentioned that this was a cause for some celebration.
I'm not going to go into great detail about what was said in the interview - that'll be appearing in my feature in the mag in a few weeks. What I will say is how wonderful and refreshing it was to meet someone whose core values aren't materialistic, but who had a realistic appraisal of the way that money defines your ability to do what you want. It was unbelievably cheering to meet a man who doesn't let sex define him as more and more media-led consumer culture does. It was, in a way, stepping back into the recent past, no more than 50 years, perhaps, into a world with a very different set of values, ones which could still support a school and abbey.
That world had passed, and with it the support system for the abbey. It will continue, perhaps for many years to come, But unless the world's values move again, there will be fewer and fewer people like Father Oliver, and to my mind, that's a terrible loss.
