Thursday, June 14, 2012

Last Benedictine monks leave Liverpool

http://www.liverpoolcatholic.org.uk/images/logo_archdiocese.jpgAN ERA dating back almost 175 years came to an end after the departure of the last Benedictine monks based in Liverpool.

A lack of people deciding to follow a vocation in the church is being blamed for the decision not to replace the three Benedictine monks, who are members of a religious order within the Catholic community.

Instead, their church, St Austins in Aigburth Road, is to be taken over  by the Archdiocese of Liverpool.  From today, one of its own priests, Fr.  Andrew Unsworth, will assume  responsibility for St Austins, which  is being amalgamated with three  other churches on Merseyside to  create a new parish.

But the future of St Austins  remains uncertain following the  decision by the Benedictine Order to  relinquish control.

After the final Benedictine Mass  at the church yesterday, the three  monks – the eldest of whom is in his  90s – left their Liverpool base to join  their fellow monks at the largest  Benedictine community in the  country, at Ampleforth Abbey in  Yorkshire.

The Merseyside parish is now  being re-organised after discussions  between the leaders of the  Benedictine Order and the  Archbishop of Liverpool, the Most  Rev Patrick Kelly.

In an address to the congregation  of St Austins, Fr Cuthbert Madden,  the abbot of Ampleforth Abbey, said:  “Both the Archbishop and I are  trying to deal with the challenges  which are confronting us as a result  of the small number of vocations to  priesthood and monastic life in  recent years. This has been forced upon us by  the fact that our community has  diminished greatly during the seven  years of my abbacy. I have sent out as many monks as  I dare from the resident community:  now we have no one left to send to  any of our parishes. I need hardly say how sad both  the community and I are that we  have no choice but to leave parishes  we have served for generations. The Archdiocese has also  experienced the same lack of  vocations which means there is now  a considerable shortage of priests,  especially when this is compared to  the number of parish churches. Perhaps the most significant  challenge for the future lies in the  small size of this church.”

Benedictine monks actually made  the first crossing of the Mersey 800  years ago but have been present in  the Grassendale area since St  Austins was founded in 1838.

Members of the Benedictine Order follow a strict life of prayer  and work, beginning at 6am each day, with a period of silence after the final  prayers of the day are said.