The monastery that wasn’t

By Michael Patrick O’Brien–

Those of us who knew and loved the old Trappist monastery in Huntsville, Utah, fondly recall the place’s unique Quonset hut structure. Yet, two of the most interesting stories from Ogden Valley’s Holy Trinity Abbey involve monasteries planned but never built.

The Quonset huts—although endearing (see: My Tin Can Abbey)—were designed as temporary quarters. Shortly after constructing them in 1947 and 1948, the Utah monks asked their Salt Lake City architects to design a permanent edifice.

The monastery’s first abbot, Father Maurice Lans, announced details and released the architectural drawings in February of 1952. A Salt Lake Tribune article at the time described the $30 million project, reporting that construction was to begin in the spring of 1952.

At the heart of the project—costing about $12 million—was a 90,000 square foot stone church and abbey quadrangle building. The new monastery was to be set on a knoll, 3/4 miles from the Quonset huts, and on a footprint of about 8 acres.

Utah architects Raymond Ashton and Raymond Evans (today known as MHTN Architects) designed a 12th century French Gothic style monastery, with soaring towers and spires, and featuring granite to be quarried from the monks’ property. The design included a 232 foot tall belfry topped by a 14 foot cross.

The remainder of the $30 million to be raised/spent was designated for modern barns and farm/industrial out buildings to support the ranch. It was not built, however, mainly due to financial reasons but also because the project’s primary supporter, Abbot Lans, died in August 1955 at age 68, just a few years after he announced the grand plan.

Fast forward 50 years later, a half-century’s wear and tear from extensive use, and from Ogden Valley weather, had made its mark on the resilient but overworked Quonset huts. Other Utah Trappist abbots also decided to make another run at constructing a new monastery building. One was Father Leander Dosch, originally from Canada.

The other abbot—Casimir Bernas—was born in Chicago and later lived and attended school in Portland. He joined Holy Trinity Abbey at age 19 after studying for a year at the University of Notre Dame. With further study, including in Rome, he earned a doctorate degree in Sacred Scripture.

The Utah monks chose him as their abbot in August 2001. Father Leander already had hired architects to design and work on the project. Right after his election, Father Casimir and the monk building committee continued the process. They embarked on an ambitious $8 million capital campaign to fund a new church, a new monastery building to accommodate three dozen monks, and a retreat house for 24 guests.

At the turn of the millennium, no new novices had joined and stayed at Holy Trinity since about 1980. The aging monks were struggling to do the work needed to maintain their 1,800 acre farm. Thus, the Trappists designed a modern abbey, trying to attract new monks with a building more conducive to monastic life in the twenty-first century.

Like the gothic facility Father Lans had imagined and planned fifty years before, the new abbey was to be built on a hill northeast of the Quonset huts. The monks hired Pollard Architects of Salt Lake City (see architectural drawings here: here) for the job. The architects visited several American and European monasteries for inspiration.

According to contemporary news accounts, unlike traditional monasteries built in a quadrangle, the planned new Huntsville facility was to be open linearly “to a glorious view of the Wasatch Mountains from the church, welcome center, and every room.” The hope was to break ground in the Spring of 2002.

Father Casimir, his advisers, and the architects actively and energetically promoted the plan. The abbot hired fundraisers and spoke to several church, community, and business groups (such as the Rotary Club). Yet by 2003, according to the monks, the capital campaign had been “less than successful.”

Architect Ken Pollard explained that the timing for raising funds—just after the 9/11 tragedy—worked against the monks. A local newspaper headline reported the difficult news: “It’s up to the Lord…Huntsville monks will rely on divine intervention to build monastery.”

The project came back to life briefly in 2006. Father Casimir and the other monks, with $4.5 million on hand, considered the option of building in phases, starting with a new church and new living space for the monks. The project was shelved, however, when it became clear the monks would have to sell some of their land to complete the effort. A majority of monks voted against that option.

Newspaper headlines reported “Effort for new monastery falters” but also noted “monks joyous despite obstacles.” Utah Trappist Father Charles Cummings explained, “We have a roof over our head—which a lot of people don’t—even if it leaks as it does in two wings.”

In September 2007, Father Casimir retired as abbot and the monks chose Fr. David Altman as their new leader. As community treasurer, Father David was also involved in the plans to build new facilities. In 2007 he said, “We may not build a new monastery after all. We are looking at other options. We may build an infirmary or possibly a retreat center, but the will of the community is not leaning toward building at this time.”

The monks did add some structural improvements—for example an elevator and better infirmary facilities—but six years later, the community was six years older and still without new, younger members. The writing was on the wall. That writing proclaimed not only would there be no new monastery building, but also that closure of the beloved Quonset hut abbey itself likely was just ahead.

In August 2013, Father Brendan Freeman was appointed superior in Huntsville after Father David’s term as abbot ended. A compassionate man, Father Brendan had three mandates: (1) care for the elderly Utah monks, (2) prepare to sell the Huntsville land, and (3) prepare the Holy Trinity Abbey community to close.

In August 2017, Holy Trinity Abbey did close after what Father Brendan described as a “painful” but also a “long and well-thought-out” process. In a 2017 article in Cistercian Quarterly, he described in detail how the Trappist order had helped their Utah monks make the transition to a new place—“the place where God wants us to be.”

It is tempting, in an article like this one, to lean into the compelling theme of the novel (and later movie) Field of Dreams. There, a distant, disembodied, but seemingly-omniscient voice urges a distressed farmer to create a baseball field in the middle of his corn patch, telling him “If you build it, he will come.”

It is a beautiful sentiment, and I teared up when I first heard it, but it is a notion constructed from hope rather than from certainty. Although all of us who loved the Utah monastery—and this is a very large group—can dream and hope, none can say with any certainty what would have happened had the Utah monks built either one of their proposed and lovely new abbeys.

So, what can be said?

Well, we can say, “good on them for trying!” Hockey great Wayne Gretzky correctly noted, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” The stories of the two monasteries that would never be are some of the most interesting tales to emerge from the seven decade history of the Huntsville abbey.

The conclusion of Father Brendan’s 2017 Cistercian Quarterly article probably best captures the Trappist perspective, and does so much more profoundly than me. He wrote, “It comes down to this: no matter where we are on this earth we have no permanent dwelling. Our true homeland is not here; our true monastery is not a building or a visible place. It is in the heart, in the center of our being—a space that can never be diminished or demolished. It is eternal and everlasting as the heavens.”

*Mike O’Brien (author website here) is a writer and attorney living in Salt Lake City, Utah. His book Monastery Mornings (found here), about growing up with the monks at the old Trappist monastery in Huntsville, Utah, was published by Paraclete Press (more information here) in August 2021.