A Trip to a Monastery

For years I’ve been reading about a Trappist monastery located just outside of Atlanta. It always fascinated me since Trappist monks sound so exotic and medieval to me. Prior to my visit, I thought Trappist monks were only in Western Europe and made delicious, Belgium-style beer. I know, my religious education is clearly limited and pretty shallow. So this weekend I decided to broaden my horizons a bit and visit the Monastery of the Holy Spirit.

Luckily for me, the Monastery of the Holy Spirit has a brand new Monastic Heritage Center/Visitors Center, which provides a kind of Trappist/Monasticism 101 course. You can watch a 20 minute video on the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (i.e. Trappists) and how this particular monastery was originally founded in Kentucky and later moved to the Atlanta area in the 1940s – the first native-born Trappist foundation in the U.S.!

It’s been so hot in Atlanta that I was going to just wear a summer dress for the trip, but something about bare shoulders in a church/abbey/place of worship just didn’t seem right. So I wore a sheer-ish button-up on top and sweated non-stop throughout the day. Summer layering doesn’t really work in the Georgia heat.

H&M top • dress from Rockit Boutique • Birkenstocks • Claire Vivier purse from Shopbop • AsianCajuns name necklace

After visiting the Heritage Center, which includes an impressive bonsai garden, a visit to the barn – the original location of the monastery – and a gift shop, I cooled off at the Abbey Cafe – complete with free wifi, French sodas and fruit cake made by the monks of the monastery.

There was monk at the gifts shop that was such a good salesman that I ended up walking away with two jars of apple pie filling and a pound of honey. I don’t even bake.

So, despite the 100 degree weather, my general lack of religiosity and currently being in possession of an overabundance of pie filling, my “sojourn” (Lar’s words) to the Monastery of the Holy Spirit was one of the best day trips that I’ve gone on in a long time. If you’re in the Atlanta area, I highly recommend a visit. The monks are incredibly welcoming and are open to people of all faiths. Let me know if you go. I’d love to hear your impression of the place.

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Dearest Lar,

So a trip to Conyers, GA is no comparison to a weekend in Oxford. You know, for a brief second while reading your Oxford post I actually thought I had been to Oxford before just because we’ve watched Brideshead Revisited so much. Isn’t that awful? Not only am I not educated in religion, I make up places that I’ve been to based on the film-version of books I’ve seen. Philistine? Indeed!

Nevertheless, I was really impressed by the monastery. I’d love to go back and visit when you’re in town. Of course it’s nothing compared to the impressive architecture of Oxford, but I suppose simplicity is the whole point of the monastic way of life.

I can’t wait to hear how your first day of class went! Hope you’re currently in a deep sleep – it’s 5:02 a.m. in Scotland as I write this.

Sweet dreams! xoxo, Cath