From the BBC
The way of life of a secluded community of nuns would be "devastated" if new homes planned nearby get the go-ahead, a council leader says.
Malling Abbey in West Malling, Kent, which was founded in 1060, is home to an order of up to 15 Benedictine nuns.
We can add penguins to newts and bats in the protected species lists that NIMBYs will use to prevent any new building.
Rev David Green, vicar of nearby St Mary's Church, said: "Their whole way of life is built around isolated prayer and peace and quiet."
...
Trudy Dean, chairman of West Malling Parish Council, said: "The whole community has come together to support the nuns against this highly intrusive plan."
Mrs Dean, who also sits on Kent County Council and Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council, said: "If the sisters cannot carry on their work, we risk them quitting the site.
Mrs Dean, who also sits on Kent County Council and Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council, said: "If the sisters cannot carry on their work, we risk them quitting the site.
So? If their way of life is built around isolated prayer, why is anyone going to miss them?
Seems to me that people who want to live in isolation would be just as happy in mid-Wales or rural Wiltshire. Sell up, sisters, pocket the cash and move somewhere really quiet.
5 comments:
Ha! Good find. The lack of self awareness is staggering.
From Wikipedia: "The Anglican Benedictine community of nuns that has made its home at Malling Abbey since 1916 was founded in 1891 as an active parish sisterhood. The sisters worked among the poor in Edmonton, north London, until they became attracted to the Benedictine contemplative life through the preaching of Abbot Aelred Carlyle. In 1906, they moved to a farmhouse in Baltonsborough, a remote village in Somerset, to begin their enclosed monastic life under Benedictine vows. In 1916, the trustees of Malling Abbey invited them to move to the more spacious and historic abbey and to continue its tradition of Benedictine prayer, worship, work, study and hospitality."
So a little disingenuous to say "founded in 1060", then. Like all other monastic houses, it was closed as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries by that useless king, Henry VIII. Also, they have moved from somewhere really quiet to somewhere less quiet, so, as TS says, they could easily go back again. Sadly, there would be no financial advantage for them in doing so, as they don't exactly own the Abbey, they are just another human shield being deployed by the Abbey's actual owners.
Has anyone asked the nuns themselves how the proposals would affect them?
Being in a busy place should not prevent nuns from practising their contemplative vocation. There is a community of contemplative Benedictine nuns just by busy Marble Arch in the middle of London; this is the convent on the site of the notorious Tyburn Tree, where mass hangings were carried out. But places change and these nuns might prefer to move to somewhere quieter in a remoter, and inexpensive, part of the country.
"Has anyone asked the nuns themselves how the proposals would affect them?"
Of course not, they might not get the right answer.
Post a Comment