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COMMUNITY NEWS
The Covid-19 pandemic has continued to change the way we live in society and monastic life has been no exception to this. Whilst we monks are used to working from home, since our main work is the celebration of the Divine Office and Mass, nonetheless Downside monks are used to working with other people and to seeing people around. The last report noted that a large stretch of time had been spent celebrating Mass without a congregation of people from the locality. We are glad that people have continued to come to Mass and it has been good to see our small congregation of masked parishioners in attendance each day.
The summer of 2020 was a significant landmark in our history. Following some months of intensive discussions, we made the decision to leave Stratton-on-the-Fosse and to seek a new home. Benedictines take a vow of stability, which means that we (normally) remain members of the same community until death and this usually means that we live in the same place, but throughout history monks have often moved, and our own community moved from France in 1793 (admittedly owing to the French Revolution) and from Acton Burnell in 1814 in order to live out our monastic life. This was inevitably not an easy decision, but our forefathers thought big, and these buildings are no longer fit for purpose for our community in a society where the number of men coming forward with a religious vocation has shrunk, and yet the number of monasteries has remained the same. We have not yet decided where to move to (despite many rumours to the contrary), but are visiting various places in order to consider the options. In order to lead and guide the community through this process, we elected Dom Nicholas Wetz, monk of Belmont Abbey and hitherto Prior Administrator, as Abbot at the end of July 2020. Normally the Abbatial Blessing takes place within about two months, but the different lockdowns meant that it had to be postponed three times, eventually taking place in March 2021, when
we were pleased to welcome Bishop Declan to administer the Blessing and to give Abbot Nicholas the pontificalia (mitre, crozier, ring) that go with his office. The Blessing was a smaller affair than would otherwise have been the case, but was nonetheless a joyful and prayerful occasion, attended by a number of parishioners.
Parish work has long been a feature of Downside monastic life, although not without its controversies. Historians will remember the debates between different members of the community in the early twentieth century about the value (or not) of Benedictines running parishes, which at Downside saw the relinquishing of many parishes in the first half of the last century. In more recent years parishes have been handed to another community or the appropriate Diocese not so much due to ideology, but rather owing to a lack of monks to run the parishes. The past year has seen us relinquish the care of our last three external parishes: St Wulstan’s, Little Malvern is now cared for by Belmont Abbey, which is situated only 30 minutes’ drive from the church; St Edmund’s, Bungay and St Benet’s in Beccles will now be parishes of the Diocese of East Anglia. This in turn means that Dom Charles and Dom Edward have been able to retire, although Dom Martin will continue to look after St Benet’s, Beccles, where his presence as a Benedictine is much appreciated by the Bishop and parishioners alike.
St Benedict’s Parish, Stratton-on-the-Fosse, has continued to use the Abbey Church for Sunday Mass, since the Church can fit more people, even with the required social distancing, and we were delighted that so many people came to join us for the Easter Triduum, especially on Good Friday and for the Easter Vigil. We were very grateful (as every Christmas and Easter) to Rachel Bevan, who was able to organise a small choir to sing for the liturgies and to Matthew Walters, who played the organ. It was the first time for a few years that we had sung the plainchant Reproaches on Good Friday with two choirs, which was very effective. We continue to be grateful to Peter Beaven and the parish stewards, without whom it would not be possible to open the Church for public services.
Dom John has spent the last year in Rome, continuing his studies at the international Benedictine college of Sant’Anselmo on the Aventine hill. He took part in what seemed to be the only face-to-face course to learn Italian, and then moved to a Rome that went in and out of lockdowns. It has been a unique experience and he has had the advantage of being able to visit the sights without the long queues that are usually a part of the experience. He was instituted as an acolyte by the Abbot Primate, the final step before ordination to the diaconate.
The monastic community has not stagnated! We had a number of talks via Zoom last year and this year we took part in a workshop with Dr Benjamin Pohl of Bristol University and the launch of the on-line exhibition historyandcommunity.com,
which shows a number of items from the collections, which exemplify the nature of monastic life and the role of history in the monastic community. The items were chosen by members of the community as well as Dr Pohl and his assistants from Bristol. The website has been visited by many more people than would have been able to make their way to Downside in person. We were also pleased to see Dr Stella Fletcher on Zoom, who has been working on Abbot Edmund Ford’s archive, and has suggested that he worked for the Foreign Office during the First World War as an emissary/spy. You can watch this lecture on our YouTube channel.
Our annual Community Retreat also took place via Zoom in August 2020. It was, perhaps, unusual, but nonetheless effective and we are grateful to Fr John Harris OP, who managed the technology at his end with great humour.
We bade farewell to Helena Graham, who had worked full-time as the Chief Executive’s secretary and then part-time in the Bursary, overseeing our rental properties and other aspects of administration. We are grateful for the care she gave to her role, and wish her well in retirement. Shortly afterwards Robert Blincow joined the bursary team as Estates and Facilities Manager. He comes with a wealth of hands-on experience in this role and already seems very much at home.
As always, we are grateful for the support and friendship of so many people in prayer, letters and emails. All charities have suffered financially during recent years, and Downside Abbey is no exception. We pray regularly for our friends and benefactors, and you can find out the different ways in which you can support us by visiting our website (www.downsideabbey.co.uk) or by offering Mass stipends. Don’t forget to follow us on all our social media channels as well!
Dom Anselm Brumwell
