Why I Live in a "Monastery"

Recently I encountered a member of my prison ministry group at a friend’s funeral, and when I mentioned something I was doing at the monastery, he gave me an odd look. “You’re calling it a monastery now, not a convent?” he asked.

Benedictine women have reclaimed the words “monastery” and “monastic” because of their rich meaning. “Monos” means “one” in Greek. On the surface, “one” could mean being single (unmarried), but it also means having a singleness of purpose (the search for God); thus a monastic seeks to be one in the One. Within communal life, this singleness of purpose means having one heart and one community of goods. Referring to our home as the “monastery” and ourselves as “monastics” (because “monk” is used exclusively to describe a man in the English language) reminds us of that oneness we seek, that singleness of purpose.

Interestingly, the word “nun” comes from the Latin word “nonna,” which is the feminine of the word “nonnus,” which means “monk.” Thus nuns originally were considered to be female monks. The term “sister” began to be used when apostolic orders were founded in which women took vows but were no longer cloistered. Benedictines are something of a hybrid; we take a vow of stability, meaning we will live at one particular monastery, and we are rooted in place through our communal prayer, but we also go outside the monastery to minister to others in various ways. Thus our life includes elements of both cloistered nuns and apostolic sisters, and both terms are used to describe us. However, at heart we are monastic—one in heart, one in the body of Christ.