Because coronavirus transmission has become more widespread in our area, and to protect our local community and patrons, the monastery will enact the following temporary measures.  

Father James Stephen Behrens, OCSO, a monk and priest at the Monastery of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit, died Thursday, August 15^th.  Father James died as a result of complications from a lung biopsy.

He was 25 years a monk and 45 years a priest.  He was a priest in the Archdiocese of Newark for over twenty years before entering the monastery in 1994. Father James was 71 years old.  His brother monks celebrate his life and mourn his death.

We Celebrate our friends and benefactors.

Our gratitude to all our friends and benefactors over the years knows no bounds. In the 1980's the Holy Spirit raised up groups of men and women in various parts of the world who were strongly attracted to Cistercian monasteries, not to live in them but to visit regularly and to be led to God through the wisdom and prayer of a particular Cistercian community. In 1987, a group of lay men and women formed around our community.

Lovers of the Land. We celebrate the Place.

From the earliest times, Christian monks have always had a special relationship to the land. We Cistercians take a vow of “Stability” which binds us to this particular place and this particular community. In 1098, our first Cistercian Fathers, like the desert monks before them, searched for a place far from the haunts of men. This tradition continued when in 1944 on March 21st, the monks came to Conyers, a place relatively far from the “haunts of men” as well.

Celebrating the community…

“Georgia’s Most Remarkable Concrete Building.” That is the caption of a published article about this monastery building in the Georgia Contractor Magazine several years ago as they celebrated “The History of Engineering in Georgia.” A fitting tribute to a magnificent building but most especially to the “builders” – a group of young monks who 70 years ago set out to build this “community” and this “place” which is now our present home.

Each year a number of men make inquiries about life at Holy Spirit Monastery. If you are one of these, you can rest assured that you will receive any information you need to help guide your search and decision-making process.

While it's true that you might never know for sure that your choices are the best ones for you, still there is no harm in walking through a discernment process that can help bring you to a point of greater clarity about the direction in which God is leading you - whether this be in or out of the monastery.

Holy Spirit Monastery has been blessed with three new novices in the past three months. Brother Mario Ignatius (far right) was clothed in late December. Brother Nathanael (far left) was clothed in February, and Brother Emilio Raphael (center) was clothed this last week. Novice Master Brother Elias commented, "We have always been graced with a remarkable spirit in the Novitiate. Today's novices continue our tradition of living the Gospel message of walking with Christ as they live out their lives in prayer and community, work and study, giving and receiving God's generous gifts."

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