**4. Ritual Transfer**

In the last paragraphs, it was seen that the Dutch oblates who participated in this research indeed ritualise their spirituality in prayer, reading and everyday practices. By splitting the population into groups, it was also observed that the monastic context has an impact, as does the personal context, which has then been coded with regard to age and church affiliation. Although the results are only explorative signals, they can still suggest that oblates form a group who actively engage in the ritual transfer of monastic practices. Their form-of-life seems "out of place" in a secular world at first glance, but, perhaps in these unexpected positions, there exist creative initiatives for new ritual fields (Grimes 2006). Among oblates, a combination of old practices and new life circumstances can be observed. However, it would be strange if there would not be problems in the experiences of the oblates, as the transfer is always a result of trial and error, negotiation and compromise.

After all the different dimensions, it is time to finally explore the third research question (3): how do respondents experience the ritual transfer of monastic practices? The problems they actually experience was scrutinised. As they are directed to God, the most frequently mentioned problem that oblates experience in transferring monastic practices from the monastery to a secular setting is the alienation they feel among colleagues or family members who do not believe. Another issue is the difficulty in finding a temporal and social structure for prayer. Illustrative quotes are provided in the following figure (Figure 4):


**Figure 4.** Problems of ritual transfer—quotes.

It is problematic to experience God as a foundation of the oblate's belief and to bear witness of that experience in a secular society (Table 13). The less traditional the monastic context, the more oblates of that particular abbey talk about this problem. The second problem is prayer, especially concerning the regularity and the lack of a praying community. Here, the relation with the monastic background is exactly the other way around. The more open the abbey the respondent belongs to, the less mention there is of the structure of prayer being a problem.


**Table 13.** Problems of ritual transfer—monastic context.

n = 53; numbers: relative number of merged quotes in %.

With regard to the personal context of the respondents, two problems again show an opposite relationship: the experience of God in a person's life is largely an issue for older oblates, who feel alienated in the world. The structure of prayer is more problematic for younger respondents. Obviously, they are more occupied by the obligations of employment or family and do not easily have the opportunity to find a ritual structure in their daily routine (Table 14).

**Table 14.** Problems of ritual transfer—personal context—age.


n = 53; numbers: relative number of merged quotes in %.

Finally, the church affiliation once again shows two opposite pictures concerning belief in God in everyday life (meaning) and form of prayer (structure). Alienation because of a belief in God is mostly experienced by members of small ecclesial communities (Table 15). It could be that those oblates, who identify more fully with their church, find it more difficult to experience God in a secular society and give witness to this experience. Those more loosely bound to their church find this less problematic. The structure of prayer is found most challenging by members of mainline churches, less by members of small communities. An explanation could be that the less a person is socially involved in an ecclesial context outside the monastery, the more difficult he or she will find it that there is no given structure of prayer and no praying community.


**Table 15.** Problems of ritual transfer—personal context—age.

n = 53; numbers: relative number of merged quotes in %.

To summarise the problems oblates experience: the ritual transfer can be difficult in a secular setting when concerning the belief in God in a person's practices, especially for oblates from the most traditional abbey, for those embedded strongly in their church community, and for older oblates. The structure of prayer in the sense of discipline and community is also experienced as difficult, but more by oblates who belong to the most open abbey, younger ones, and those more loosely embedded in ecclesial groups.
