The Peace Abbey in Sherborn, MA: A Review

I discovered The Peace Abbey via their website. At the time, I had been searching the net for an interfaith spiritual director. I read a few things about their retreats, but generally dropped the ball. Then, months later, I happened to drive by its physical site and impulsively thought I'd stop to investigate. Since I was dressed in my mismatched, wrinkled workout gear and since I only saw one car in the parking lot, I hoped that I could quietly sneak in, look about quickly, and slink back out just as anonymously as I had entered. Instead, I was immediately greated warmly by the peace chaplain, engaged in lovely conversation, and given a detailed personal tour.

The Peace Abbey is an interfaith, nondenominational retreat center; one of its primary missions relates to maintaining all forms of nonviolent living (e.g., conscientiously objecting to war, objecting to the killing of animals for food, etc.). In the world of social justice, "the biggies" (e.g., Mother Teresa, the Dalai Lama, Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Elie Wiesel) have either visited or have been honored here. Upon entering The Peace Abbey, the images, letters, and mementos of the greatest world peacemakers provide both an humbling and inspiring experience.

I imagine that the "average" person will either love The Peace Abbey or intensely disdain it. What someone says about The Peace Abbey is likely more revealing of who the critic is than revealing of what The Peace Abbey is "truly" about. Like any group, it will appeal greatly to like- minded individuals. On the ramp to the main office, a Jurassic-sized banner lauding Obama certainly sets a tone. Even though my personal politics are tree-hugging, bleeding heart, liberal, I also recognize that any position (even the insistence on being "open-minded") can be rigidly adhered to and can render others as opposing outsiders. Therefore, a group that seeks to foster social peace may ironically encourage divisiveness and disharmony when that group creates the situation of insiders (we, "open-minded" liberals) vs. outsiders (those "rigid" traditionalists).

The Peace Abbey certainly intends to be open and affirming of religious diversity. Upon entering the main building, a visitor is flooded with rich imagery from twelve major faith traditions. Whether or not they are met, the abbey's ideals are expressed in symbolic form: for example, the Christian crucifix harmoniously hangs next to the statue of the Buddha. On the one hand, the place is an exploring seeker's delight to peruse all the icons, symbols, photos, letters, prayers, and textiles. On the other hand, I found that while the many sculptures and sayings were intellectually stimulating, the sheer volume of images also seemed to amount to a kind of visual noise that was not quite peaceful-inner-stillness conducive for me.

All this said, The Peace Abbey is not about its decorated buildings, pastoral grounds, or even its activist ideals. The real experience of The Peace Abbey comes out of meeting those gentle, passionate souls who work or visit there. If you go, you will surely learn something new. If you are lucky, you may also experience something profound.