The Institute on Religious Life (IRL) recently rolled out a redesigned version of their website devoted to promotion of contemplative vocations, CloisteredLife.com. It is a lovely site, thanks to the work of Inscape - web design by Mary Shaffer (a dear friend who also worked with us in building our new site).

If you are discerning a vocation and don’t know where to start looking, CloisteredLife.com is full of information on the contemplative life, with links to many communities affiliated with the IRL. But even if you are not discerning a call to religious life, mosey on over to find answers to everything you ever wondered about cloisters, as well as to encounter some of the stories and faces of communities of women (and men - there are male contemplatives, too!) who are dedicated to prayer, obtaining innumerable graces for all of us by their lives in silence and solitude.

Our cloistered life is a treasure, and the IRL is doing marvelous work in building up a culture of openness to the Lord’s call to consecrated life in all its many forms.