Downside Abbey

This page contains news and prayer requests

from the Downside Community.

17 October

You will notice that we have no daily Masses on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday of the coming week.

As you know, Father Martin continues to be a monk of the Benedictine Order and he has been summoned to “Head Office” in Downside, as there are serious matters to be resolved relating to the changes the Order is going through. We wish the new Abbot and all the Brothers well in their deliberations.

The Finance and Fabric Committee certainly appreciate their generous donation to help fund the essential repairs to the roof and stone-work of the church. We are now waiting – with baited breath – for the estimates for the major work which we fear will be necessary in the near future. . .

10 March, 2021

The Downside Community have decided to go ahead with the celebration of the Abbatial Blessing of the Right Rev Dom Nicholas Wetz, to take place as a fairly ‘private affair’ in Downside Abbey on Saturday March 13^th(further news to follow).

Please pray for Fr Nicholas, who was elected Abbot of Downside last August and who is leading our community through such a difficult time.

Our prayers are also for the world in which we live and we are so grateful for all the support we are receiving. Following last summer’s ‘News from Downside’ (below), a great many responses were communicated to members of the monastic community, including (for example) the following extracts from three different writers:

“St Benedict started his monasteries not for saints but for ordinary people with the faults most of us have, and his principles apply to everybody.”

“Can we not learn from our mistakes and proceed humbly towards a better future?”

“St Benedict’s awareness that love of possessions destroys the soul was never more needed than now.”