Convents & Monasteries

At the Monastery of St Benedict, in Arcadia, New South Wales, we pursue the goal of living out the ideals and inspirations of St Benedict, author of the Rule of Benedict, which inspires the many communities of the Benedictine Confederation. We are a group of Christian men, living together in community, supporting each other in our search for God through prayer, work, study and mutual co-operation.

The Coptic Church has always revered St Shenoute, but for centuries western scholars knew little about him because he does not appear in the Greek and Latin sources that survive from antiquity and because the codices containing his extensive writings in Coptic, nearly all of them collected and preserved in the White Monastery, were dismembered and dispersed into libraries throughout the world.

Bodhinyana monastery has come a long way since it's genesis on 1 Dec 1983. Named after the great teacher Ajahn Chah, Bodhinyana means the Wisdom of Enlightenment. With the help and support of the lay community the monks built the entire monastery by themselves. It was a hard and arduous task but through patience and perseverance, the monks managed to establish a home beneath the trees and within nature.

Tarrawarra Abbey is a community of Cistercian monks in the heart of the Yarra Valley, 60 kilometres north-east of the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1954 by Mount St Joseph Abbey, Roscrea in Ireland, the monks of Tarrawarra belong to the worldwide Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance (OCSO), popularly known as the "Trappists".

The Monastery has been home to the Passionist Community since 1896, the parish beginning in 1958. St Raphael’s at Parkside was originally under the care of the Passionists, but was handed over to the diocese in 1927/28. In 2001, the Parkside community, including St Raphael’s Primary School, were incorporated into the Parish of St Paul of the Cross.