Summary:

The Monastery Sustainability Project will provide the needed expertise for Holy Cross Abbey to implement its five-year strategic plan. This Abbey sits on 1,200 beautiful acres that border the Shenandoah River, first surveyed by George Washington! Under the direction of Professor Andrew Hoffman, an interdisciplinary team of 4-6 University of Michigan graduate students will conduct a comprehensive study culminating in recommendations for implementing the Abbey’s action steps toward making the monastery more environmentally, economically, physically and spiritually viable. This Master’s Project will produce a book offering guidance to other monasteries and religious communities that want to transition to the future in an environmentally responsible and cost-effective way.

Project Goals:

1. To translate Holy Cross Abbey’s plan into action in an efficient and responsible way consistent with the community’s beliefs and values.

2. To generate prioritized recommendations for implementing the Abbey’s action steps to improve the spiritual, physical and financial health of the monastery.

3. To develop the tools to measure our continued progress toward sustainability.

4. To publish a book that can serve as a manual for other religious communities as they plan toward greater sustainability while meeting the challenges of aging and fewer vocations.

Background:

Like many religious communities, Holy Cross Abbey faces the challenge of aging community members, declining vocations and a precarious economic future. To meet these challenges in a spirit of creative fidelity, we undertook a strategic planning process from fall 2007 through summer 2008. The entire community established important goals for our facilities, land, industries, and communal life. We now seek the expert guidance needed to successfully meet these goals.

One of our plan’s Direction Statements articulates our deep sense of responsibility for the environment: “We will find ecologically responsible methods of managing our land, buildings, industries, and other resources in order to promote the greatest good for all people, aware of the ‘inseparable link between peace with creation and peace among men’ (Pope Benedict XVI).”

We do not regard our relationship to our environment merely as one category among others. Our use of resources and relationship with our environment permeates everything that we do. For this reason, the Monastery Sustainability Project, while in conjunction with Michigan’s Natural Resources department, will extend far beyond environmentalism narrowly defined. It will also help us evaluate our financial health, industries, marketing, facilities, labor force, land use, and worship space.

Current Situation:

With our ambitious five-year plan in place, we need credible advice to act on our goals and monitor our progress. The Monastery Sustainability Project will help us to focus our energy and prioritize what practices will have the greatest impact.

Other religious institutes (including our motherhouse, St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts) are developing long-range plans; and many communities are adopting isolated environmental practices without situating them in a larger context. Our study’s publication will help such communities more effectively make and implement responsible decisions.

Scope of Project:

We take as our first principle that the needs of our senior members must guide our decisions in each category.

1. Land use, evaluated according to moral, aesthetic, cultural, financial and environmental criteria. We will consider the following: labor required for maintenance of the land, the feasibility of organic beef and produce sold locally under the monastery’s name, the prospect of community supported agriculture, implementing practices that promote the health of the Shenandoah River, sustainable forestry, plants grown for biofuel, and replacing time- and energy-consuming lawns with native grasses.

2. Businesses, including opportunities to make our products more environmentally sustainable through energy efficiency and organic/fair-trade ingredients; evaluation of cost for upgrades and potential for greater profitability; potential new industries that fit with our beliefs, values, and labor capacity; and opportunities to market our products more effectively.

3. Buildings, ensuring that future construction or renovation associated with our five-year plan is cost-effective, aesthetically appropriate and environmentally responsible. Current buildings should be safe and efficient. Our facilities should integrate our elders as fully as possible in the life of the community.

4. Energy, in an attempt to become more energy-efficient or to generate renewable energy.

Publication:

Since many monasteries and religious houses face similar challenges—an aging population and fewer vocations—we will publish a book to help these communities become more environmentally sustainable. To broaden the book’s appeal, we will ask well-known scholars to write essays situating present environmental choices in the context of the larger monastic tradition. We may also organize a conference to bring these thinkers together to share ideas and experience. We will submit proposals for the book to major Christian publishing houses, including Orbis, Liturgical Press, and Eerdmans.