Life at Bonnevaux and Joining us

The Vision

Bonnevaux is the spiritual home of the World Community for Christian Meditation. It is a global Centre for Peace rooted in the practice of silence, stillness, simplicity and openness to all.

The soul of Bonnevaux is its small residential community. This is a group of people living together in the spirit of the 1500-year-old Rule of St Benedict. It is an ‘open cloister’ inspired by the essential elements of monastic wisdom. We try to live peacefully while being aware of the turbulence of the world today and contributing as we can to healing its divisions.

Volunteers and guests who make their time at Bonnevaux part of their spiritual journey are invited to experience our faith in the power of contemplation to heal the world.

As the Desert Fathers said, we try to see ourselves in others and others in ourselves.

Daily Life

Our daily life follows a rhythm of inner and outer silence, a balanced integration of prayer, work and study. We have a weekly ‘desert day’ of fuller silence and digital break. Meditation morning, midday and evening, a simple monastic prayer and contemplative Eucharist combine with other simple practices to help a sustained calmness in stillness and activity.

Each month, two guided retreats welcome seekers from the global community of meditators and others who wish to begin or to deepen their practice. Through our faith in Christ we open to exchange and mutual enrichment with other spiritual traditions.

The Culture of Life and Nature

Our contemplative way of life offers a counterpoint to the dominant culture in which most of us live today with excessive speed, stress, over-consumption, digital distraction and loneliness. Bonnevaux is an informed experiment, rooted in an on-going tradition, a new manifestation of spiritual community with meditation, prayer and hospitality as its foundation. It is about transformation and liberation.

Our small organic farm is managed by a young family that is part of the community. It provides some of our food as well as inspiration for raising environmental awareness. The natural beauty of the land merges with Bonnevaux’s energy of peace and wonder.

Joining us

Thank you for considering coming to Bonnevaux.

There are several ways you can come and experience life at Bonnevaux and share its vision, either as a volunteer or as a guest. We will gladly help you to find the best way for you.

Volunteering in Bonnevaux

Bonnevaux can offer an opportunity to begin or deepen your spiritual journey, by finding inner clarity and peace. Volunteers come to share in our life and work. The great variety of backgrounds and age allows spiritual friendship to flourish in enriching ways.

The usual volunteering period is one month, which can be extended by mutual agreement.

While receiving board and lodging, volunteers live within the community, helping with daily chores and with hospitality during the retreats. We offer participation in scheduled retreats and community study, keeping a balance between activity and solitude. Every week we enjoy a special moment together around music, stories or movies.

Our aim is to be part of the spiritual renewal of the world, which begins in us and spreads as we share it. To better support each other’s journey we respect rules and principles such as courtesy, kindness and moderation in our speech and behaviour. The harmony of the life at Bonnevaux – as lived by ordinary human beings – helps us to find harmony within ourselves.

If you have specific personal gifts you can share as a volunteer we would like to discuss it, for example in areas like audio-visual, translation, music, administration, literature, gardening and IT.

If you are interested in volunteering please let us know, we would be happy to meet with you. We will send you a questionnaire and then arrange a short zoom or phone call.

Long-term stays

If you would like to come for a longer stay, for three months or more, please contact us describing your motivation and preferred dates. We will be in touch about a conversation.

If you have not been here before, the first month is seen as a trial period. By mutual agreement this initial period may also be extended. For those seeking a longer commitment to the community this can be discerned together. 

Those joining the community for longer stays usually share fuller responsibilities in the life of Bonnevaux and also in the mission of the global community. We can discuss this in the light of your previous experience and also help you develop a program of study and deeper practice.

Coming as a Guest

You can also come simply to make a personal retreat while sharing in the common life. Guest make a financial contribution according to their means, which we can discuss.

You may come any time depending on available space. If you would like to make a guided retreat we can discuss it with you. If you are new to meditation we will help introduce you to the practice.

For any of the above possibilities please contact us :

Below you will see some comments of how volunteers have found their experience:

"Each day brought an invitation to be present—to breathe, to listen, and to trust the process of slowing down. Leaving Bonnevaux, I carried with me more than just memories—I carried a new perspective. The practice of being present, of leaning into discomfort with compassion, gave me tools to navigate the uncertainties of life. Though my anxiety may never truly leave me ,I am learning to meet it with the calm and steadiness I began to cultivate during my time there. Bonnevaux was more than a retreat; it was a turning point."

Stephanie

Volunteer from Trinidad & Tobago

I’m Karen Clemens. I live in the state of Arizona in the U.S. I first came to Bonnevaux in the spring of 2023, as a student of the first cohort of the WCCM Academy. What I saw were those of us that were such like-minded souls trying to walk this way of life. We were from 13 different countries around the world, and it was quite amazing to share our vast variety of experiences. What I also saw when I came here was the beauty and sacredness of this amazing place in the trees and the fields, the flowers, the sky. We went on to study together online for the next two years, but we also came back here to gather in person two other times. And through that experience, I was moved to really want to enter into the way of life here and this community in a more intentional and deeper way. So I found myself coming back as both a retreatant and to help with retreats. I was blessed to have one private retreat here, and then I also came back, as a volunteer. The beauty of the volunteer experience is that we're really able, as volunteers, to live this way of life through the rhythm of the times of prayer and through the rhythm of working together and alone.

Karen Clemens

Academy Student and Volunteer from US

My name is Yannis, I am 28 years old and come from Switzerland. I first came to Bonnevaux at a difficult moment — I felt lost professionally and weighed down by something I struggled to name. I had long been drawn to many different spiritual traditions, but my search had always felt scattered. In Bonnevaux, I found a place that could hold it all within one clear path. What surprised me was everything that came with it: a community offering real guidance, support, and friendships I expect to carry for life. Bonnevaux gave me a context in which something in me could change — from a closed, bitter relationship with life toward one oriented by hope, openness, and care for others. It has been one of the most meaningful experiences of my life.

Yannis

Switzerland

Oblates

The Oblate Path is described in a short booklet you can download here.

WCCM Oblates are meditators who find a daily line of wisdom and support through the Rule of Benedict and the global Oblate community which now numbers several hundred worldwide.

Bonnevaux is the home of the WCCM Oblate community (oblates.wccm.org). There are stages on this path from that of an initial ‘Enquirer’, to ‘Postulant’, ‘Novitiate’ and then ‘Full Oblation’. Each stage is mentored by an oblate.

There is an annual Oblate retreat at Bonnevaux. It is possible to follow a part or all of the path at Bonnevaux.

Those who have made their Oblation often come to Bonnevaux as volunteers or residents. They bring their lived experience and support the Benedictine charism of daily life.