The Abbey of the Holy Trinity in Hunstville, Utah, is one of a shrinking number of monasteries left in the nation. The Ogden Valley monastery has been the home to a group of Trappist monks since 1947. The monks who reside there live a life of prayer, meditation and farming. However, the average age of the monks today is now nearing 80 years old and the men of the abbey have decided to find a new purpose for their monastery.
According to Father Brendan Freeman, the Superior of the abbey, the decision was made as fewer men made the choice to take on the Trappist way of life.
“The last one to persevere was in 1980. So, that was quite a few years ago. It’s not a monetary question, it’s vocations,” he said. “There’s no vocations coming in and there’s no way you can make that happen. Can’t buy it. We call it a call from God and it’s just not out there now.”
The monks of the Holy Trinity Abbey now ponder what will happen once the monastery finally closes its doors. The residents of the abbey, however, want to continue to involve the community and contribute to good causes.
Chris Binder, a graduate student at Utah State University, met with the monks Tuesday as part of a team of graduate students working to explore the monastery’s future. The students have spent the semester developing different proposals for how the land could be passed on to the community. While traditional development is one option, a conservation easement that preserves the land’s history could be a good way to allow the monks’ legacy to remain, while allowing them to earn money to support fellow Trappists around the world and contribute to charity.
“There are actually other economic drivers, where some of the Trappist monks would like to be able to create a fund in order to gift money to charitable causes, including supporting their brothers around the world and other monasteries,” Binder said. “The problem isn’t clearly focused because we don’t know exactly what the monks want. They have to, as a group, decide what it is that they want their legacy to be, not just in Ogden Valley but around the world and within their order. Once they make those decisions, then they can look at the options we’ve presented.”
The monks have yet to decide on which of the team’s proposals they will choose for their land, if any.
Editor's Note: Comments attributed to Grant Hardy in the audio story were actually those of Chris Binder.
