While vocations to the full monastic life are falling, the number of oblates is on the rise. Does this reflect abbeys' new awareness of the need to accommodate the outside world, or something else?

We were in the guests' sitting room at Douai Abbey when Fr Gervase Holdaway said: "The increase in vocations since 1980 has been phenomenal - quite phenomenal." He was not speaking, as it happened, about vocations to the enclosed monastic life, or indeed the priesthood. He is oblate director at the abbey, and was commenting on the fact that in 1980 the abbey had two oblates, and now it has 56, with the biggest increase taking place over the past 10 years. And this change, reflected to varying degrees across the English-speaking world, has arisen without the abbey going out to look for a single one of them. Something is clearly happening, in the Church and in the world, but  what is it?

An oblate is able to live in relatively close association with the nuns or monks of a particular abbey, while continuing to live and work in the outside world. To borrow the title of a book by Br Benet Tvedten, director of oblates at Blue Cloud Abbey in South Dakota, you can "be a monastic and not leave your day job". If this sounds like having your cake and eating it, well, with God nothing is impossible, and thanks to the benign response of many abbeys to the increasing demands from outside, it is possible to do just that.

During my stay at Douai I was able to join the monks at Mass, and in the praying of the Divine Office, and find myself a part of an ancient rhythm of prayerful life that is maintained - amazingly - to this day. In the sacred space of abbeys in England and around the world, monks and nuns in traditional habit are singing plainsong as their predecessors did centuries ago, and it is possible to join them.

Fr Gervase discerned the light of the Holy Spirit in the numbers of people approaching him, but he also felt that the Internet was facilitating this expansion - uncovering a hitherto latent demand - by allowing people to find out about this particular monastic calling. As vocations to the priesthood and full monastic life were falling, he said, so oblate vocations were rising in roughly inverse proportion. And whereas in the past people heard about the vocation only by word of mouth - if they happened to know or know of someone who was an oblate - now they could look at abbeys' websites, which usually have a section devoted to their work with oblates, or at the growing number of websites with an oblate focus.

What becomes clear fairly quickly from oblates and indeed oblate directors is that - despite the fact that all Benedictine monasteries and abbeys follow the same Rule of St Benedict - they are not all the same, by any means, in terms of their ambience and character. Whether a place feels right or not is an important matter, to which wise, aspiring oblates should pay due attention.

Moreover, it is useful to consider the American experience when looking at how this vocation is developing, as oblates seem to be operating there with a particularly burgeoning vitality. Bridgett Wissinger, 33, from St Louis, Missouri, lives a six-hour drive away from her monastery in Clyde. She searched on the Internet and tried one in another state that turned out to be too "parochial" for her before visiting the Clyde women's monastery that she "fell for". Her experience is echoed by others. Jane Frith of Boise, Idaho, speaks of the "deep inner connection" that she felt the first time she visited St Gertrude's, Idaho, to which she is now affiliated. In her case, one clinching factor was finding a place that prayed the psalms every day - Benedictines pray them all each week. This confirmed her sense that she had "come home".

The commitment an oblate makes is a "gentle" one, according to Scott Knitter, an oblate of St Meinrad Archabbey in Indiana, who lives in Chicago. But it does ask the oblate to take on the Benedictine values, which revolve around prayer and humility, in their daily life. The degree to which one does this depends on individual choice and circumstances. At St Meinrad's, says Mr Knitter, oblates are expected to "pray daily the Divine Office, at least mornings and evenings, read from the Rule of St Benedict daily, practise lectio divina  (meditative Bible reading) daily, receive Communion and make confession regularly, and be attentive to God's presence in daily life".

These undertakings are made in the form of promises, rather than the legally binding vows made by a professed monk or nun. The fruits of this commitment are evident in the testimony of all the oblates I have spoken to. Kay Totten, who is also affiliated to the Monastery of St Gertrude, says her private spirituality has been "nothing short of transformed" by becoming an oblate. Her life as a nurse is extremely busy but, as she says: "The Rule is part of my being. If I have the gift of open time, I want to see the sisters. I cannot fathom a life without my Benedictine values."

"I think living as an oblate gives more meaning to everything I do, from the first moment that I am awake until I go to sleep," says Ann McElmurry, who is affiliated to St Scholastica's monastery in Arkansas. "The ordinary is never ordinary. It is my desire to have something pleasing to offer God."

The effect of following an oblate vocation in one's life "in the world" is universally evident. Some speak of the way St Benedict's call to humility has helped when office politics have raised their ugly head. Others speak of the benefits of embracing the injunction against "murmuring" or complaining. Those embroiled in the demands of family life speak of the calling bringing "a great grace to the way we can live as a family". And the assurance of one oblate that "my house is cleaner" was no trivial piece of testimony. St Benedict urges us to regard all work as sacred and to see the tools we use as blessed objects that deserve a reverence similar to that accorded the vessels at the altar.

Those called to closer association with the spirituality of a particular monastery do not come from any single social background. Charlie Malin, an oblate at the Lutheran house of St Augustine's in Oxford, Michigan, says his oblate colleagues are made up of "clergy, social workers, academics, blue collar workers ... most professions and backgrounds". Ms Frith offers one explanation for what is happening: "Laity are hungry for a depth of experience and spirituality that is not offered or available in a typical parish/congregation environment," she says. And of course, oblates are able to deepen their spirituality while pursuing a conventional family life.

The initial commitment, then, is very much a personal rather than a social one. But whether this becomes more social - through retreats, seminars, and other gatherings at the abbey, or meetings with other oblates  - all depends on the circumstances and inclination of the oblate and the disposition of their abbey.

Benedict wrote his Rule, stipulating how, in accordance with the Gospel, monastic communities were to organise themselves, well before the Church embarked on its two great divisions. Accordingly, abbeys and monasteries today welcome men and women of most Christian denominations, and monks will usually accept female oblates and nuns accept men. Moreover, the prohibition on non-Catholics receiving Communion does not seem to deter oblates from their attraction to the prayer life associated with the Divine Office.

St Benedict's insistence on humility and obedience as guiding virtues for his communities was as counter-cultural in the sixth century as it is today. He knew about the petty conflicts that can distract from the main business of praising God, and the extraordinary spiritual discipline that is necessary if they are to be avoided. The "humble living of an ordinary life" that Jane Frith describes as the Benedictine way is indeed "counter-cultural", but one can easily discern its attraction in societies as estranged as British society is from the concepts of humility and obedience. Fr Gervase told me that a survey in Britain and Ireland in June 2007 counted 1,713 oblates and 73 novices, though not all abbeys replied to the survey. In 2005, the year of the first World Congress of Oblates in Rome, total numbers  worldwide were estimated at 25,000. The second gathering, next year, will see a significant increase on that figure. Vocations, make no mistake, are growing.

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