USA Trip #2

Gethsemani Day 1

The retreat for the Louisville priests is being held at the Gethsemane Abbey of the Trappist monks, near Bardstown, Kentucky. Gethsemane is famous as the home monastery for Fr. Thomas Merton, the author and spiritual writer who is buried there.

Many people come to Gethsemane for a time of prayer, and there are many lay people here making their retreat at the same time as we priests. Here a woman reads in an isolated area of the monastery grounds.

A view along the side of the monastery building with part of the cemetery where monks have been buried for more than 150 years.