I read a wonderful story over the weekend, about a Worcester, Massachusetts-based Teresian Carmelites monastery staying afloat in today’s world. You might think that religious orders are a place of refuge in our meltdown mess, but in fact the Teresian Carmelites monastery has its own problems.

• Hopes of getting persmission Trappist monks in Belgium to produce Trappist beer were on hold.
• Erecting windmills to generate and then well power (a common entrepreneurial endeavor these days) was losing steam
• Donations kept humble food on the table, and even that supply of goodness could be at risk in a bad economy.