Anyone know of any good ones somewhat close to Michigan? I'll drive far if I have to, but the closer the better. I am located in the Southern part of Michigan (near Detroit).

I'm looking for a good spiritual retreat and to just check out what life is like for them in general before I get too set on the idea my vocation is marriage.

Thanks!

ETA: I'm more interested in the semi-contemplative orders, but am willing to check out the other.

Looking at different websites, what exactly does this mean?



ETA: Does "oblate" always refer to lay people who have dedicated their lives to Christ?

No. Oblates may be clerics. Some groups of oblates are only priests. I think they basically live together and follow some sort of house/community rule, but they do not take the vows that religious take.

And some normal religious orders use the term "oblate" in their names, I think.

I don't know of any solid contemplative male orders monasteries or semi-contemplative ones close to you CH. If you able, you should make the 5 hour drive down to Bloomington, IN and make a retreat there with the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. They offer monthly organized retreats there and you can make a personal retreat there anytime if you just contact the friars. I can give you the email address of the vocations director (who lives at this friary) if you would like. Just PM me if your interested.

Friary website - http://marymediatrix.com/communities/indiana-in-retreat (They have one more friar not in the picture)
Retreat Center Website - http://www.maryschildren.com/

I'll keep looking around and get back with you, thanks for the information. A 5 hour drive is no problem as I want something solid that will be a good representation of religious life for me. I was even looking at the monastery at Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina, so I will drive if needed. BTW, any opinions on Belmont?

How bout' this?

http://www.thecapuchins.org/

http://www.capretreat.org/

If someone if interested in the Capuchins, I would certainly highly recommend the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. http://www.franciscanfriars.com/

It would be greatly beneficial for you to get your hands on St. Alphonsus Liguori's Treatise on the Religious Life before you jump into the married life. If you can read this work and feel at peace about embracing the married state, that would be good affirmation that this is your call IMHO.

I don't think this work is available online. I also don't think it is included in any of the collected works of his that you can buy on Amazon. At the very least, you could buy "Come Follow Me" by Fr. Stefano Manelli who quotes a decent amount from St. Alhonsus's work. http://marymediatrix.com/bookshop?page= ... yword=book

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll see what I can do about getting my hands on one.

"Come Follow Me" is a great book and only $5 plus shipping. Mine came with a bonus holy card.

It's a pretty short, easy read, and it's full of little snippets of stories from saints' lives. At the same time, it's a challenging book, in that it talks about the dangers of losing your vocation, separation from parents (including the duty to even runaway from home to follow a vocation, if necessary), etc.

The Franciscan Friars of the Renewal are not Capuchins. They are former Capuchins. Whatever their merits, they are not Capuchin and cannot call themselves such.

Purely contemplative orders are monastic, and most monasteries follow the Rule of St. Benedict. So you should check out various Benedictine, Cistercian, and Trappist monasteries. You may also want to check out the very formidable Carthusians, who have a Charterhouse (their term for monastery) in Vermont. The Camaldolese exist in their traditional form in Italy. There was a community of two or three in Ohio, but I don't know whether they still exist there. The Camaldolese in Big Sur, California have adapted to modern life and are not as strictly contemplative. Most Benedictines live a mixed life in the US. There are primitive observance Benedictines at Mt. Savior outside Elmira, NY and at the Monastery of Christ in the Desert in Abiquiu, New Mexico.

A vocation to a contemplative way of life is usually a vocation to a specific monastery. You can read extensively, but you really have to visit places to see if you can picture yourself living there contentedly. It is a bit like dating. You can imagine the woman of your dreams, you can even, I suppose, look at written materials about a woman. But until you meet her ..........

Semi-contemplative or mixed orders are a somewhat different issue. There is a "creeping activism" in almost all of these orders that makes the balance of contemplation/activity hard to maintain. Of these orders, you may wish to look into the various Dominican provinces, and provinces of Franciscans (OFMs), Conventual Franciscans (OFM Conv.) and Capuchin Franciscans (OFM Cap.) Also, consider the Carmelites (O.Carm.) and Discalced Carmelites (O.C.D.) There is considerable variation between provinces in some of these groups. You may also wish to look at the Norbertines in DePere, Wisconsin and at Daylesford, PA. There was at one time a small community of Brigittines in Oregon (brigittine.org)

Please make note of the following:

1. Not all religious communities are healthy and sane. Some are definitely dysfunctional and should be avoided.
2. In the conservative/liberal spectrum, there is likely great wisdom in the via media.
3. What seems attractive and desirable for a weekend or retreat may be impossibly difficult or tedious for a lifetime. Think of dating: there are some women who would make a delightful date, but you may not want those delightful qualities with you for the rest of your life.
4. To join a community far from your home increases the challenges of the life.
5. Pray. Pray. Pray.
6. Listen, Listen, Listen to God and man.
7. Visit promiscuously. Go to places even if you think you will not like them. You will learn something with each visit, even if the community is not your "cup of tea."
8. Deal with reality, not with a fanciful image or pre-conception. It is the reality you will, God willing, be living.

.

Don't they follow the Capuchin tradition? To me, that sounds tantamount to saying that the first Capuchins lead by Fr. Matteo Bassi were not Franciscan or Friars Minor because they formed a new congregation.

The CFRs decided to leave the Capuchins and now insist that they follow the authentic Capuchin tradition. They certainly draw their inspiration from the early Caps. On the other hand, they are not Capuchins, are not under the Capuchin minister general, do not follow the current Capuchin Constitutions. To make an analogy, it would be as if a group of Toyota employees left, founded their own car company, and then insisted that they made the "authentic and traditional" Toyota cars.

The CFRs, who do great work, are the CFRs. The Caps are the Caps.

It appears that the Ohio Camaldolese are still there: http://www.camaldolese.org/pages.php?pageid=7

As someone discerning religious life, I think I would be remiss to fail to mention that St. Alphonsus Liguori (doctor of the Church and founder of a religious order) is very clear when he teaches that it would be better for an individual to stay in the world than to join a religous order that has relaxed its observances.

The call to religious life is a call to total immolation through the observance of the evangelical counsels of Christ. Whether one is called to a purely contemplative order or an apostolic/mixed order, it is absolutely essential for one to enter a community where they will be able to totally immolate theirselves for Christ.

The following list is not exhaustive and is in no way a claim that there are not other great male religious communities in the United States. However, it is a list of various orders that I have come across through research that seem to be observant (since I have not visited most of them, one would actually have to visit to investigate how observant the community is)

Benedictine
Our Lady of the Annunciation of Clear Creek - Hulbert, OK - http://www.clearcreekmonks.org/

Cistercian
Our Lady of Spring Bank - Sparta, WI - www.monksonline.org

Carmelite
Carmel of the Immaculate Heart of Mary - Cody, WY - http://www.carmelitemonks.org/
Hermits of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel - Lake Elmo, MN - http://www.decorcarmeli.com/Hermits.htm

Franciscan
Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate - http://marymediatrix.com/
Franciscan Friars of the Renewal - http://www.franciscanfriars.com/
Franciscans of Pimitive Observance - http://romancatholicvocations.blogspot. ... vance.html

Eastern Catholic
Maronite Monks of Adoration - Petersham, MA - http://www.maronitemonks.org/

Other Contemplative Orders
Camaldolese Hermits of MonteCorona - http://www.camaldolese.org/
Carthusian Charterhouse of the Transfiguration - http://transfiguration.chartreux.org/

Other Apostolic Orders
Canons Regular of St. John Cantius - http://www.canons-regular.org/
Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem - http://www.canonsregular.com/

There are also religious institutes of apolstolic life that are really good like the FSSP and Institute of Christ the King. Also, alot of oratories housed by the Oratory Fathers are quire good. The one in Pittsburgh that I have a relationship with is excellent. I think the one is Toronto is supposed to be good as well.

I should also add that I have heard really good things about the Oblates of the Virgin Mary as well. http://oblatesofthevirginmary.org/