Father James Garcia, 63, will arrive at the Abbey of the Holy Trinity in Huntsville, Utah, on Aug. 1, fulfilling a long - held desire to deepen his relationship with God and to discern if he is called to monasticism for the rest of his life.
"Two suitcases, that's all I have," the pastor of Menlo Park's St. Anthony of Padua Parish since 2002 told Catholic San Francisco. "Everything else is gone because I am planning to stay there for the long haul. My sermons are gone, my books are at the seminary, my furniture is here for my successor and I've got myself down to two suitcases - Costco specials."
Father Garcia said the change is possible because he has fulfilled his obligations to his family and the Archdiocese. He began his religious life at 14 when he entered the Redemptorist minor seminary in Oakland. He became an archdiocesan priest when he was 45 in order to help his widowed mother. Ruth Garcia died in 2004 at 85, spending her last days with her only son in the rectory in Menlo Park.
With his commitment to the Archdiocese to serve a six - year term as the pastor of St. Anthony ending this year, Father Garcia saw a chance to return to the prayer - centered vocation that first attracted him to the Redemptorist congregation. For now he will be on unpaid leave from the Archdiocese as a volunteer at the Trappist Cistercian monastery.
Father Garcia is grateful to Archbishop George Niederauer for allowing him to spend this time away at Holy Trinity Abbey. How long will he stay? That depends on a couple of factors, one of which is health. He's presently receiving treatment for prostate cancer. The prognosis is good, he said.
"I felt a call to go back to where I came from, this time with a little stronger desire to make a more generous and more intense response to God's kindness, to do it in the Cistercian life with the monks - to live there as a volunteer for however much time I have left to live," he said. "And when my health no longer permits, as an incardinated priest in the Archdiocese I can return and be of service in the parishes."
Father Garcia will join the 19 monks living at the abbey in the mountains of northeast Utah. The monks range in age from 60 to 91.
Called to realize ever - greater conformity with Christ, they observe a modification of the 1,500 - year - old Rule of St. Benedict. The monks center their lives on the seven prayers of the Divine Office. They rise at 3 a.m. for Vespers and retire at 7:30 p.m. after Vigils. Between prayers some of the monks have work assignments, including taking care of the abbey's beekeeping operation and 700 - acre farm, gardening, shoveling snow and working in the bookstore.
Candidates must be between 21 and 40, single and free of financial and family obligations, to be considered for the community. They undergo a six - month postulancy to test their resolve and then advance to a two - year novitiate, wearing the white Cistercian cloak and scapular. If the vote of the elder monks is favorable, the novice moves on to a three - year temporary profession and finally to permanent status.
"For newcomers the transition from life in today's fast - paced and stressful American society to the slowed - down, quiet way of life at Holy Trinity Abbey can be disorienting," according to the description on the abbey's website. "Some call it liberating. Although we are not completely cut off from society, we deliberately withdraw from many features of city life, even good ones, for the sake of our religious practices. Monks do not pretend to live in the Middle Ages, free of modern technology and totally self - sufficient, but monks do filter and restrict their contacts with contemporary society."
Father Garcia was admitted as a volunteer based on an essay he wrote to the vocations director, focusing on his desire to return to the faith life he experienced as a young man. His status is short - term but could be extended after a trial period if both parties agree, said the abbot, Father David Altman. Father Garcia has donated his library to St. Patrick Seminary, keeping only his eight Breviaries - four each in Spanish and English. They are the prayer books priests use to recite the Liturgy of Hours, which is synonymous with the Divine Office monks have prayed formally since the 6th century and long before that in forms borrowed from Judaism.
At St. Anthony he is a part of a group that prays Vigils in Spanish every day at 6 a.m. and Vespers five times a week in the evening.
"It's one of the greatest joys of my life to be in the church with the people praying the Liturgy of the Hours," he said. "It's what I hope to do the rest of my life - praying the Liturgy of the Hours with the monks, yeah, seven times a day."
