The Lay Community
of Saint Benedict
St Benedict Week - News
Connection - Radio Maria
We heard via Twitter on 8th July from Nick Swarbrick who pointed us to a podcast from Radio Maria on St Benedict - this is the link - we hope you enjoy it!
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/radio-maria-england/id1544107629?i=1000619796706
Connection - Life with St Benedict
We heard via Twitter on 8th July from Richard Frost who has written a book with daily reflections on the Rule of St Benedict
Chilworth Abbey invites you!
The monastic community at St Augustine's Abbey, Chilworth, as a member of the Subiaco Cassinese Congregation, keep the 11th July as the Solemnity of Our Holy Father St Benedict. It is the main Patronal feast for this community, which is echoed throughout the Divine Office during the day. The usual daily timetable of prayer is followed with all being sung rather than recited.
First Vespers (Latin)- 6pm
Anticipated Vigils - 8pm
Lauds - 7.30am
Terce - 8.40am
Mass - 9am
Sext - 12.30pm
None - 1.35pm
Second Vespers (Latin) - 6pm
Compline - 8.30pm
Northern Lights is feasting St Benedict!
From far and wide in the north, some of us are gathering at the Benedictine Abbey of Stanbrook in North Yorkshire on 7th - 9th July for a community weekend together. We shall pray, share food and meet the Sisters, joining them in office and Mass over the weekend. On Saturday we head for the beach (fingers crossed the weather is good) with a picnic, swimming things, games and cricket stumps in hand (competing with the Ashes Test at Headingley we hear!). Do join us if you find yourself near Bridlington on 8th July. More information from Richard and Christine Watts.
Upcoming Blog
Charlotte Bonhoure is a promised member of the Manquehue Movement, a lay Benedictine community, with which she has been involved for the past 10 years. Charlotte has been married for almost three years and is currently doing an apprenticeship in Chaplaincy whilst working at St Gregory's Catholic School in Tunbridge Wells.
Celebration plans underway for the South West London & Surrey Group!
The South West London / Surrey area will be celebrating St Benedict's day with a picnic and afternoon of games in the beautiful Bushy Park.
They will meet at 1pm on Sunday 9th of July on the grass in front of the car park and the coffee hut.
If you live nearby, do come and join, and invite your family and friends along too!
Please bring a picnic and something to sit on and an outdoor game/ kite, etc if you have one. Adam and Barbara are going to bring the volleyball net and giant inflatable balls.
Please get in touch with Helen or Barbara if you have any questions.
helenhealy59@gmail.com / bms.simon@gmail.com
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If it rains, the event will sadly have to be cancelled.
Upcoming Blog
Janet is a writer who usually blogs at
https://foowr.org.uk/notesfrombambi/
sometimes more coherently than at others.
Bambi is her elderly camper van also know as the Mobile Chapel of St Scholastica. It's Scholastica who keeps Janet connected to St Benedict in spite of her various wanderings.
Podcast Guest
Be excited for another podcast to be released during St Benedict Week! Our guest will be Sarah Morgan. Sarah is truly a citizen of the world. Born in New Zealand, raised in Northern Ireland until her family immigrated to Australia when she was 10. Sarah has been working in the UK for the past 5 years and hasn’t stopped travelling for a minute. She now hails in Brighton working full time as a barista serving the elixir of life. Sarah was raised Catholic and at 18 experienced the personal and profound love of Jesus that changed the course of her life. She has been involved in ministry for 10 years including 2 years serving on NET Australia and 2 years as a Forerunner - the Worth School chaplaincy team. This is when she discovered St Benedict and found a love for the Benedictine charism. She loves anything pink, being in the sunshine, swimming, reading and going to as many concerts as possible.
Upcoming Blog
Br Aidan, a monk of Douai Abbey, will be sharing his thoughts on celebrating St Benedict. Br Aidan joined the monastery on the 30th September 2019 and took simple vows on 27th March 2021.
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He is pursing his studies for the Priesthood at Blackfriars Studium, Oxford, and is about to start theology, having finished two years of philosophy.
Podcast Guest
Abbot Mark Barrett will be a guest in the series of special podcast episodes released for St Benedict week. Abbot Mark has been a monk at Worth since 1979 and was elected Abbot in 2021.
He has worked as a teacher both in school and University contexts, and is the author of several books including Crossing: Reclaiming the Landscape of our Lives and the Bloomsury Lent book of 2020, The Wind, the Fountain, and the Fire. Abbot Mark had a role in crafting the EBC’s congregational statement ‘To Prefer Nothing to Christ’. ​
Podcast Guest
Stuart McPherson will take part in one of the week's podcasts. He has been head master of Worth since 2015. Before that, he was a house master and teacher of English at Eton College, having been a teacher at Sydney Grammar School for the first ten years of his career. He is married to Johneen (head mistress of St Catherine’s School, Twickenham) and has four adult children. Stuart represents the Benedictine schools of the UK and Ireland on the Board of the International Conference of Benedictine Educators.
Upcoming Blog
We are delighted that Esther de Waal will be one of the blog writers for St Benedict's Week. Since writing “Seeking God” in 1984, Esther has inspired generations of people of all ages and backgrounds to discover the timeless inspiration of the Rule of St Benedict. In numerous writings, she has established an extensive oeuvre as the pioneer lay commentator and teacher on the Rule.
