“Ask me about my vow of silence”
Laurie Goodstein has an entertaining story in the New York Times today about the monastery behind LaserMonks.com — and the women-in-residence who run the operation.
“We feel we’re stewards of their business, and we really put bread on the table,” said one of the women, Sarah Caniglia, sitting in their impeccably organized office amid lighted candles and CDs of Gregorian chants. “I feel like the head of a family, but the boys are grown up and they’re never going to get married.”
Father McCoy, who at 42 already has a monk’s bald pate and fringe of hair, said: “Our life as monks is not set up to sit around and answer phones. We’re supposed to be a little removed.”
“We are professional pray-ers,” said Father McCoy, who wears a white habit, a long black smock called a scapular cinched with a leather belt and, on his feet, knock-off Crocs. Some days he wears a T-shirt that says, “Ask me about my Vow of Silence.”
It sounds like a win-win-win situation: the monastery is making enough money to support itself; the women are reaping the benefits of their semimonastic life; and, of course, the customers get cheap (sometimes environmentally friendly) ink. Could other Church institutions learn something from the monastery’s success in contracting out its business operations? Or is this just a new version of an old story? After all, parishes have been depending on hardworking, dedicated women to keep them going for generations. I imagine there are lots of parish secretaries and business managers nodding in recognition when they read that comment about feeling like the “head of a family” of grown-up bachelors!
Mollie,
You’ve gotta be kidding. Let’s hope this little situation is a one-off, most parish priests I know would be *mortified* to be portrayed in this fashion — and, to be fair, it’s generally not true, very few of them have time for arts and crafts.
This article does, however, serve as a good “gut check” for women who work in the Church…
I wonder how others are reacting to it?
Nancy
Not sure what you mean, Nancy. Working in a parish is very obviously different from working in a monastery, for everyone involved, so in comparing the two I guess I am kidding a bit. But it’s certainly true that parishes and church institutions have long benefitted from the dedicated behind-the-scenes work of savvy laypeople (and especially lay women) where administration and business are concerned.
Fair enough, Mollie, it is certainly true that many monasteries have been supported by lay women and men who are interested in their work, and nourished by the experience sharing in the monastic charism, at least in some way.
But it sure seems to me that the reporter — Goodstein does a lot of Catholic coverage — found this situation to be catnip, quote-wise. I shared this article with a number of women associated with the Church earlier this morning, and the howls almost melted my screen…I’m not arguing that these women are “exploited” but, as a model for Church…no.
Oh, I think it’s a “model” in a very limited sense, if at all. It just struck me as I read it that I often hear people lamenting that parishes/diocese are poorly run, from a business point of view, because the clergy are taking too much on themselves instead of turning over some responsibility to appropriately trained laypeople. (The old financial-records-in-a-shoebox story.) And here’s an example of some clerics relinquishing control of the business side of their operation, and finding it works out better for everyone involved. I don’t think Goldstein meant the story to be anything more than a lighthearted look at an unusual setup, but that’s one of the themes it brought out for me.
I think it’s a win-win-win-win (or, more succinctly, win-win squared) situation, i.e., Mollie’s three proposed wins and a fourth for the many–I was surprised by how many–charities the monastery supports, both religious and secular. The two women both seem to be very satisfied with what they are doing, and their expertise allows the monks to satisfy both the religious and self-supporting requirements of their order.
There may even be a fifth win. I thought the LaserMonk website was very well-designed, and it serves to some degree as a portal for people from all backgrounds to learn something about a monastery and the life of the monks. It also depicts the flexibility of an ancient order to embrace technological advances and to use them in a manner that does not dilute the monks’ primary mission as “professional pray-ers.” Maybe I’m overstating the case, but I think that many non-Catholics, and perhaps some Catholics, would be surprised to learn that tradition and technology can be kept in such equilibrium.
Grown-up bachelors? Most lokely in many cases, but don’t count on it in way too many of them.
Nancy-
I disagree with your take on this article and the way the two women are portrayed in it. In no way was the article about the role of women in the church. It just happened to highlight two women who work with a monastery and find the experience meaningful. Can’t we just take it at that (and not read all sorts of sinister motives into everything). People need to chill out a bit.
Friends,
I do seem to be losing this argument! My point is not so much about the women, but about the men in this case.
There is a long history, I will certainly grant, of complex relations between monastic communities and their supporters/extern members/oblates, etc.
I maintain however, that this report suggests that, in this case, something different is afoot: the energy of these women does not support the work of the monks, it IS the work that keeps the monastery going (in re the monks, Goodstein writes, “little of the labor is their own”).
That’s a different story.
(But not to worry, Anthony, you’re in good company, my teens think I should be more chill, too…)
I must admit I was left a little cold when the monks talked of having time for “arts and crafts” while TWO professional women work for a TOTAL of $60,000. I assume their housing is gratis, but that’s not clear from the story. Even so, is that a fair wage? Are there benefits paid so that women will be able to retire? (The monks have a secure retirement, thanks to the work of the women. Is that reciprocal?) And do they have a vote in the decisions of the community that their labor enables to flourish?
I’m delighted that the women find such satisfaction in their work for the monastery, but it is too easy to skip over the quotidian questions of justice. If the Church did not so often leave its lay workers underpaid and under-voiced, this would indeed be a nifty story of the meeting of tech and tradition. But as it is…
Lisa brings up a good point. However, this is something all of us who are well-educated and have decent paying jobs should reflect upon. The women and men who work at the dry cleaners (which save us so much time and energy and so allow us to pursue other interests like academics), so we consider whether they are receiving adequate benefits? What about the people who deliver our take out food or bus the tables in the restaurants that we often frequent? I can too be left a bit cold when I think about all the people who “work” for me (in very small ways but in real ways nevertheless) but who lack the kind of salary and benefits so many of us who read and write on this blog have.
And I still go back to my original point. Some times a story in the NYT is just a nice story.
Lisa and Anthony raise good points about the need for fair and just employment conditions, etc., but I don’t think that the information provided in the article is sufficient to support a conclusion that the womens’ employment conditions are unfair or unjust. I also don’t think that the article provides strong support for the broader argument that the Church “often leave[s] its lay workers underpaid and under-voiced.” That may indeed be the case–I don’t know enough to draw a conclusion one way or the other–but I wouldn’t cite this article if I were making an argument that the Church’s employment practices are improper.
What little is contained in the article would lead one to believe that the women are very satisfied with their jobs. For example, they came from Colorado to give business advice and never left, they are “stewards” of the monks’ business, they “feel like the head of a family,” they “hit it off” with Fr. McCoy, etc. According to Ms. Caniglia, “it isn’t about the money”:
“The women stayed in the monastery’s hermitage overlooking the Mississippi River. Two weeks became two months, then six. The women shared their skills at database management and Web design, but also ideas for the future of LaserMonks. The monks gave the women a taste of a life that was contemplative, balanced and simple.
“’I was a yuppie, I wanted to make a lot of money, drive a nice car and belong to a tennis club,’” said Ms. Caniglia, 41, who is Catholic. ‘I’ve just learned to simplify my life, and I get joy out of seeing the stars at night, walking the dogs.’”
Like the commercial says: “priceless,” at least as to these two women. If they had any complaints about their employment conditions, they didn’t express them to the reporter. There’s nothing in the article that would allow one to draw even an inference that the women are dissatisfied or that they fear retaliation if they were to say what is really on their minds. It’s just a simple story that I don’t think provides a basis for drawing generalized conclusions about the employment of lay people by the Church.