I want to welcome you to the Manaiagh Nua website. This is a modern take on an old form of Christian/Spiritual way of being. The way of a Christian includes the simple and intentional practices of prayer, study, and living the love of God through acts of justice and compassion. This is an online community of people dedicated to living out this way of life in our own unique contexts.
I am a student of the Christian monastic tradition. I have been a United Methodist minister for nearly twenty-five years, serving several local congregations. I also have Ph.D. in New Testament and Early Christianity. In my doctoral work, I was able to do research on people like the Desert Fathers and Mothers and early Celtic monks and the ways that they lived out Christian faith. I have spent time in Ireland and the United Kingdom visiting holy sites and learning about new monastic communities.
In addition, I am a husband and a father of two daughters. I don’t live in a monastery and feel called to serve in the larger society. Still, I believe there is something the monastic way of being can teach us about living well within our families, communities, churches/faith communities, and the world. That is the purpose of this online new monastic community. I invite you to explore the website, see if something resonates with you about such an intentional way of living out faith in this new world.
Thank you again for exploring the Manaigh Nua Community. You are most welcome here.
Brett Opalinski
A New Monasticism
Manaigh Nua is an online community of people intentionally living the simple way of Jesus. We follow in the tradition of early Celtic monasteries. These monasteries were great centers of learning and contemplation. They were schools for the Christian life. They also engaged with the larger society beyond the monastery with creative efforts to find common ground and help society better reflect the values of the Kingdom of God. Participation in the life of the monastery included men and women, married and unmarried, children and the elderly, monks and laypersons. In this way, transformation happened in individual lives, families, and communities at large. This sort of contemplative living and civic engagement became the means of spreading the good news of God’s love and grace to a world in which Christianity and its values were foreign.
Manaigh Nua is an online monastery in this same spirit, where you can find information, resources, articles, and classes for living a contemplative life of prayer, study, and justice (living out love of God and neighbor).
This community is open to all persons who are intentionally exploring what it means to live with Jesus as the center of one’s life and faith. There are no confessional requirements. We will be made up of Protestants, Catholics, agnostics, former Christians, and many who don’t know what label to put on their faith. All that is required is an inner sense that Jesus is inviting us to live deeper, to be more awake to God’s presence in the world, and a call to advocate for a world that better reflects God’s beloved community…the Kingdom of God.