American life is busy, noisy, confusing, and chaotic. Whether we realize it or not, this frantic pace has a cost. If we’re not careful, we can easily give up our souls in the pursuit of what we’re told is important.

Are we truly successful if we accomplish something great in our careers, yet lose ourselves in the process? What is important in our lives? By what do we measure success? Is it even possible to balance the demands of work, life, family, community, & spirituality?

Most of us can’t even find the margin in our lives to ponder these questions and their answers. Life is simply too overwhelming. In living, we have ceased to be alive.

The Open Abbey is an invitation to live differently. It’s an invitation to live as whole people, free from the defeating expectations and shallow hopes of the world around us. It’s an invitation to dream about a way of life that is beautifully and radically different. It is a space in which both ideas and concerns can be shared, both successes and failures can be recorded, and both resources and support can be offered.