Saint Brigid of Kildare Monastery is a dispersed, ecumenical Benedictine community, with members living across the United States. We do not have a central monastery building, but share a rich community life that includes daily prayer via teleconference, monthly formation meetings via videoconference, and an in-person yearly retreat.
Our community is made up of men and woman of all ages, both clergy and lay, married and single, representing a wide variety of Christian denominations. We are guided by our founder Mary Ewing Stamps who serves as our abbess, and also by a Council, made up of community members and a representative from another Benedictine community. Our members pledge to follow a covenant that gives shape to our shared commitment to living the monastic life. Our guiding sources include Holy Scripture, the Rule of St. Benedict, and Methodist texts such as the United Methodist Hymnal and the writings of John Wesley (the founder of Methodism). Because we are a dispersed community we use the term Oblate differently than many other centralized monastic communities. Our Oblates are full members who have gone through a process of learning, discerning, prayer and guidance, and have decided to make their full promise to the community. We call ourselves Oblates, but we also call ourselves Monks.
If you would like to learn more about becoming an Oblate of St. Brigid of Kildare Monastery, please visit our Porter page for more information.
If you are interested in learning more about our community, click here. For vocational inquiries, click here.
