'It's sad': New Brunswick monastery closes

When you think of a monastery, peace and quiet comes to mind, but it was particularly silent at the Notre Dame of Calvary Abbey on Thursday.

A sign on the front door says the Rogersville, N.B., abbey has officially closed.

The monastery has been there since 1902, and residents in this small Acadian community about an hour north of Moncton will be sad to see the brothers go.

“We were proud of it,” said Claudine Caissie. “It was such a nice place to go visit. We can go there any time we want. It’s sad.”

Elmina Bernard went to church there with her family on Sunday mornings.

“It was quiet and I liked it there. It’s sad to see them go,” said Bernard.

The Notre Dame of Calvary Abbey in Rogersville, N.B. (Derek Haggett/CTV Atlantic)Father Innocent Ugyeh, the man who runs the monastery, told CTV News decision makers at the Roman Catholic Church in Rome have voted to close the abbey.

The reason? Recruitment.

At one time, there were 30 monks living there; now there’s just three.

“Three people cannot form a monastery. We can’t run it with just three,” said Ugyeh. “We tried so many things for recruitment.”

The grounds of the monastery have been a popular place for locals to go for a walk or buy produce over the years.

“They have gardens there for fruits and vegetables and apples,” said Jacinthe Ferguson. “In the fall, there’s a lot of traffic going there to buy these. And you can also go inside and visit. It’s really nice.”

The Notre Dame of Calvary Abbey in Rogersville, N.B. (Derek Haggett/CTV Atlantic)Lucienne Daigle said it was very important to people in the Rogersville area.

“People throughout the years worked there and it was good for the economy because they had different businesses,” said Daigle. “It’s going to be a big loss.”

The Trappist monastery is dedicated to prayer and monks embrace solitude and silence as the two indispensable elements in their life.

The Notre Dame of Calvary Abbey in Rogersville, N.B. (Derek Haggett/CTV Atlantic)Father Innocent said he doesn’t have an official response on when the building will shut down for good.

“We don’t know definitively when it is closing,” he said. “In the end, closure is a process.”

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