A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 29
For years I’ve had this thought in the back of my mind about doing a little indie comedy about monks. I’ve kicked around several angles into it. Here is another one:
The Benedictine monks at the Portsmouth Abbey in Portsmouth, R.I., have a problem. They are aging — five are octogenarians and the youngest will be 50 on his next birthday — and their numbers have fallen to 12, from a peak of about 24 in 1969.
So the monks, who for centuries have shied away from any outside distractions, have instead done what many troubled organizations are doing to find new members — they have taken to the Internet with an elaborate ad campaign featuring videos, a blog and even a Gregorian chant ringtone.
“We’re down in numbers, we’re aging, we feel the pressure to do whatever we can,” said Abbot Caedmon Holmes, who has been in charge of the abbey since 2007. “If this is the way the younger generation are looking things up and are communicating, then this is the place to be.”
That place is far from the solitary lives that some may think monks live. In fact, in this age of all things social media, the monks have embraced what may be the most popular of form of public self-expression: a Facebook page, where they have uploaded photos and video testimonials.
A new Web site (portsmouthabbeymonastery.org) answers questions on how to become a monk — one F.A.Q.: “Do I have to give up my car?” (yes) — and print ads announce that “God Is Calling.” Some monks will even write blogs.
“If 500 years ago, blogging existed, the monks would have found a way to make use of it,” Abbot Holmes said. “Our power is very limited. In the end it’s God who is calling people to himself and calling to people to live in union with him. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t do our part.”
There’s that adage: There are two kinds of stories. In one, a person goes on a journey. In the other, a stranger comes to town. This strikes me as a classic example of the latter.
Imagine this crumbling, ramshackle monastery way out in the middle of nowhere, reduced to a mere handful of members, each of them old.
Create an external pressure: The monastery is in arrears on a loan. Or the Church has put them on some sort of probationary arrangement to generate x amount of dollars to justify keeping the doors to the place open.
Then a new member shows up. He’s younger. [How young? 50? 40? Even younger?] And he has fresh ideas including a web presence to recruit new members and raise funds.
I have visited a monastery near Abiquu, New Mexico: Christ in the Desert. My grandfather’s step-brother was an architect and helped the brothers with some building projects. In the past one of the ways they made money was by providing web design services. They also produce Monks’ Ale.
Imagine a hardcore group of old, conservative monks, that insular world, forced to do something to keep the order alive, then along comes this new priest with all sorts of modern ideas involving social media, web design, and making ale.
That just strikes me as the basis of a wonderful, small, funny yet poignant drama-comedy.
How about you?