By Michael Patrick O’Brien–
As a kid, Daniel Shanahan loved to visit his uncle, a Trappist monk at New Melleray Abbey in Iowa. Shanahan considered joining a monastery too, but he was meant to do other things. One of them is keeping the legacy of American monasticism alive for future generations.
Shanahan has started a non-profit called The American Monastic Archive Project (TAMAP). He recently launched a website outlining TAMAP’s vision and work.
Shanahan’s vision for TAMAP is broad: “The ultimate goal for TAMAP is to create a public museum where people can see, touch, and hear American Christian monasticism.” He’s starting with a digital repository of monastic history, timelines, and information, but hopes to someday open a brick and mortar monastic museum.
TAMAP’s workload seems equally ambitious: “Christian monasticism is changing in the United States. What it will become is yet unknown. TAMAP preserves archives, key artifacts, and essential library holdings of completed monasteries for the preservation of the American Christian monastic narrative.”
Shanahan’s commitment to the project might be explained by the loving tribute the monks of New Melleray Abbey posted on their website when Shanahan’s kind uncle passed away in February of 2020: “Brother Tobias, born in Toledo Ohio, entered the monastery in 1958. He was subsequently trained as an accountant and served the community for years as a book keeper. For a period of time, he offered assistance to the monks of Assumption Abbey in Ava Missouri, a foundation of New Melleray. He made good friends there with monks whom he would correspond with for years afterward. In recent years, Brother Tobias worked in the front office at Trappist Caskets. He assisted with book keeping but mainly served on the phone, welcoming and assisting grieving families who were delighted to find themselves talking to a monk about funeral arrangements for their loved one. These phone conversations are often conducted with people in tears and can take thirty minutes to complete. Brother Tobias will be remembered for the exquisite gentleness and patience he brought to these encounters.”
Shanahan’s good work to remember such good men is part of what seems to be an emerging American monastic preservation movement led largely by people who are not monks.
Unfortunately, like many religious institutions, American monasteries are aging, dwindling, and even closing. My own beloved Trappist monastery—Holy Trinity Abbey in Huntsville, Utah—is but one example.
In the last few years, I’ve communicated with many non-monks like Shanahan who—because of family, spiritual, or other personal connections—are stepping up to support monks and nuns and keep as much of the spirit and story of American monasticism alive as possible.
For example, this news article describes how my friends Bill and Alane White worked with Summit Land Conservancy and the Ogden Valley Land Trust to preserve the Utah monastery land and the monks’ agricultural legacy. Their work has brought great joy to those who loved the Utah abbey.
Poet Kathleen Norris (The Cloister Walk) and journalist Judith Valente (How to Be: A Monk and a Journalist Reflect on Living & Dying, Purpose & Prayer, Forgiveness & Friendship) write wonderful books about contemporary monastic experiences. Lay and oblate groups learn and use monastic practices in their daily lives.
Professor and forester Jason Brown studies the “spiritual ecology of monastic landscapes in the American West” and has started The Holyscapes Project, which he describes as “an exploration of the inner and outer landscapes we inhabit, explore and call home.” Scholars at The International Thomas Merton Society study and discuss the work of the great Trappist from Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky.
The monks and nuns themselves are trying to do their part too. Many monasteries have taken concrete steps to preserve their lands and buildings, even as their membership dwindles (see Monkservation Easements). An ecumenical community in Cape Cod has created an extended family of celibate and non-celibate monastics (see Transfiguration Harbor) in a grand effort to bring the monastic life to a wider audience.
A local Salt Lake City artist and filmmaker named Steve Peterson is working on a documentary about the Utah monastery. There are many other examples too.
I’ve tried to make my own little contributions to this monastic preservation movement with Monastery Mornings, my 2021 memoir about growing up at the Utah abbey, and with this blog (see Monk profiles: the men of Huntsville, Utah’s Holy Trinity Abbey and The Wisdom of the Mountain Valley). I also am working on a new novel set in part on the abbey grounds and featuring monks as major characters.
It’s noble and important work. I am proud to be a small part of it. I look forward to learning more about Daniel Shanahan’s exciting and interesting planned contribution to the effort.
*Mike O’Brien (author website here) is a writer and attorney living in Salt Lake City, Utah. Paraclete Press published his book Monastery Mornings, about growing up with the monks at the old Trappist monastery in Huntsville, Utah, in August 2021. The League of Utah Writers chose it as the best non-fiction book of 2022.
