Mike,
Since I have been out of both the monastic life and the Church for almost 40 years, I don’t see how my take on it would have any credibility in a forum like this. However, I found the following blurb posted on a Benedictine Oblates’ Yahoo group a couple of years ago, and I couldn’t have said it any better myself.Having been an oblate for a quarter-century, I’ve–alas–thrown in the towel. But I’ll never turn my back on the Benedictine Tradition!
"Unfortunately there’s little spiritual formation provided for the Benedictine oblates. The lay oblate usually remains at the most elemental level, though there are always exceptions. It’s a shame, actually. But this has been my experience. Many oblates are still clinging more to the monastic
forms rather than doing deep inner work. There’s more interest in rituals, icons, scapulars, robes, and perfunctory prayer forms than there is about evolving one’s soul via contemplation and spiritual comprehension. Sorry, too, but I’ve found that most oblates I have come to know–in person or online–don’t even know much about Benedictine history!
"So it goes, and it’s sad. Is there any blame in any of this? Hard to say. Traditional religious haven’t provided much for the laity in the past, except (as I said earlier) at the most elemental levels. And it has to be faced, too, that many in the laity are waiting for someone to ‘give it’ to them–and it need be from the person wearing the robes for the most part. They are looking to an
authority that is fast waning.
"Now I’m sure others will have other opinions on this matter, noted above, but that’s my experience and observation on the issue.
"However, there’s a ‘small fire rising out of the ashes’ as Joan Chittister, O.S.B., has inferred in one of her books. She’s a Benedictine sister who, along with a number of other Benedictine luminaries, is sharing and EXPANDING the Benedictine Tradition into a modern context. Naturally, she’s under fire by her
authorities. 
But that always seems the hard road of pathfinders.
“In the end, I suspect the Benedictine monasteries will continue to dwindle. Right here in my own city, one such monastery had to be sold because there were so few monastics left to maintain the place. As for lay oblates, they will continue in numbers but likely will fade out eventually as monasteries do. But I submit that the great Benedictine Tradition will continue, grasped by people who sense the possibilities this Way provides for a balanced and actually an elegant spiritual life. The Benedictine Way is downright civilized and truly can easily be translatable to the individual seeker as well as converted to the
universality of the spiritual life, as we see it unfolding in modern non-traditional monastics and mystics.”
