Monks may abandon Prinknash Abbey
-08/11/05
An internationally known community of Bene
Monks may abandon Prinknash Abbey
-08/11/05
An internationally known community of Benedictine monks which has hosted many Christian conferences and retreats, may abandon its abbey in the Cotswolds because of declining numbers, reports the Daily Telegraph.
Just 14 members of the Roman Catholic order are now living in the four-storey Prinknash Abbey near Stroud, Glos, which was designed to accommodate 60.
They are now planning to return to a 16th-century manor house on the 300-acre estate that they occupied before the modern building was completed 33 years ago.
The abbey, which has 80 bedrooms, a church and a substantial library, could be sold to commercial developers if a religious or charitable use cannot be found for it.
The community recently launched a drive to attract new recruits, but only two were found, one of whom has since left.
The news comes in spite of the the success in May 2005 of the hit BBC2 documentary ëThe Monasteryí, a three-part series filmed with other Benedictine monks at Worth Abbey.
Fr Martin McLaughlin, the bursar at Prinknash said that the decision to move had been made to consolidate the community’s resources and “revitalise its traditional life of prayer, work and hospitality”.
Fr McLaughlin said that no decision had yet been made about what to do with the building, which dominates the surrounding countryside and which could fetch millions of pounds.
While selling it for commercial use would be the most lucrative option, it would be a last resort, as “that isn’t really what we are about”, he added.
The land has been associated with Benedictines for 900 years but the present community was established in the 1920s when a group of monks arrived from Caldy Island.
Monks may abandon Prinknash Abbey
-08/11/05
An internationally known community of Benedictine monks which has hosted many Christian conferences and retreats, may abandon its abbey in the Cotswolds because of declining numbers, reports the Daily Telegraph.
Just 14 members of the Roman Catholic order are now living in the four-storey Prinknash Abbey near Stroud, Glos, which was designed to accommodate 60.
They are now planning to return to a 16th-century manor house on the 300-acre estate that they occupied before the modern building was completed 33 years ago.
The abbey, which has 80 bedrooms, a church and a substantial library, could be sold to commercial developers if a religious or charitable use cannot be found for it.
The community recently launched a drive to attract new recruits, but only two were found, one of whom has since left.
The news comes in spite of the the success in May 2005 of the hit BBC2 documentary ëThe Monastery’, a three-part series filmed with other Benedictine monks at Worth Abbey.
Fr Martin McLaughlin, the bursar at Prinknash said that the decision to move had been made to consolidate the community’s resources and “revitalise its traditional life of prayer, work and hospitality”.
Fr McLaughlin said that no decision had yet been made about what to do with the building, which dominates the surrounding countryside and which could fetch millions of pounds.
While selling it for commercial use would be the most lucrative option, it would be a last resort, as “that isn’t really what we are about”, he added.
The land has been associated with Benedictines for 900 years but the present community was established in the 1920s when a group of monks arrived from Caldy Island.