 St. Benedict's Monastery, Snowmass, Colorado
In 1956 a small group of monks left St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts, to become the founding fathers of St. Benedict's, which sits in a spectacular valley high in the Colorado Rockies. While living in an old farmhouse and its adjacent barns, they began construction of the present monastery. Since that time, the monks of St. Benedict's have striven to follow the Rule of St. Benedict by becoming a "school of charity."
Following the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, the community began to place more emphasis on ecumenical dialogue and the contemplative aspects of their spirituality. Through the work of Fr. William Meninger, Fr. Thomas Keating and Fr. Basil Pennington, St. Benedict's became the spiritual home of the international Centering Prayer movement.
To support themselves, the monks board cattle, farm hay, run a small cookie bakery and a bookstore, and maintain a very active retreat facility. 
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