Anyone on their mailing lists knows the financial difficulties of convents and monasteries in these modern times. While self-sufficiency has always been their mode of support, there was a time when cloistered monks and nuns could count on generous bequests and donations from faithful Catholics. That’s no longer true. Now they sell everything from coffee to candy, from rosaries to wind chimes, just to make ends meet. They try to be competitive with mail order houses, but it’s not easy—because prayer is still their real business, and that’s a very time-consuming occupation.

The Trappist Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Georgia, has come up with a new initiative. The monastery, built by the labor of the monks themselves in 1944, happens to sit on 2,100 acres of some very valuable real estate. Beautiful wooded wetlands in their natural undeveloped state lie within commuting distance of the Atlanta megalopolis. One might expect the monks to sell off this land to developers, probably at a very good price. But it also happens that the Trappists take their responsibilities as stewards of God’s creation very seriously. The natural wetlands of the surrounding counties have been destroyed by development, so the monks have had to resist pressure to sell even as they continually multiplied the items in their catalog and gift shop. They were determined to save the land.

Now, the monastery lands are the site of the first “conservation burial ground” (also known as “green burial”) in Georgia, one of the few in the country. And the land is safe—forever. I have wandered in those woods during retreats, foregoing the guided tour of the outskirts sometimes offered by Father Gerard, and confessing afterwards to one of the priests that I “know” I’m closer to God there than in the sanctuary. Emphasis must be placed, however, on the word “natural.” This is not land that’s been manicured like a park. One can easily encounter very unfriendly snakes (I wear thick rubber stable boots) as well as the occasional bobcat. But, having spent some of the happiest days of my childhood traipsing through the wilds of the deep “pineywoods” of Georgia, I can think of no better resting place for my remains.

For those unfamiliar with the concept, “green burial” means burial in a plain wooden box in a plain white shroud, with no embalming, tombstone, or monument, just a small flat granite marker. Following the burial, the land returns to its natural state, so gravesites are very inexpensive. The land is not consecrated; sites are open to persons of all faiths or no faith at all. Further information can be found at the link below.

http://www.trappist.net/place/land_conservation.htm