What is it like to be a monk? In 2015? Melissa Binder from Oregonlive.com profiled the Benedictine monks at Mount Angel Abbey in Mount Angel, Oregon, and gave a glimpse into a life modeled on much older era. An excerpt: 

Men pick new names when they become monks. Grassel has gone by Father Martin since 2000.
 
“You get freedom from the new name to change, to become a new person with new lifestyle and new habits, new values,” he says, his upper Midwest accent faint after more than two decades outside the region. “The old name is kind of like an anchor pulling me back.”

 

Matt Emerson's essays have appeared in a number of publications, including America, Commonweal, and the Wall Street Journal. The Catholic Press Association named his September 2012 essay "Help Their Unbelief," published in America, as the "best essay" in the category of national general interest magazine for 2012. He is the author of the book Why Faith? A Journey of Discovery (Paulist Press 2016).Articles:Fruitful Searching (Jan. 5-12, 2015)Preambles for Faith (May 13, 2013)Help Their Unbelief (Sept. 10, 2012)Posts at The Ignatian Educator