ASK A MONK?

If you want to ask a question about life at Downside, monastic life in general, or about a monastic vocation, please send it to us and we will answer it as soon as possible. We will include popular or interesting questions below, with our response.

QUESTIONS RECEIVED

Do the monks at Downside spend time with pupils in the school?

Yes, we do. In fact, the school is part of the wider monastic community and we try to help develop the minds and especially the hearts of young people through our contact with them. The amount of time that monks spend with pupils and in the school varies according to their roles and responsibilities; for instance, there are members of the monastic community who work as chaplains, there is the headmaster and a housemaster who are also monks. Then there are also monks in formation in the house who spend time with pupils in the junior school.

On Sundays the school joins the monastic community for mass, and during the week there are monk priests who celebrate mass and lead prayers in the different houses. Monks also organise retreats for pupils and members of staff during the year, conduct reconciliation services, teach Religious Studies, prepare pupils to receive the Sacraments such as Confirmation and share their experience of spiritual reading in the form of lectio divina with members of staff and pupils.

What are your views on the ecumenical movement? I really love some of your ideas, especially with regard to silence. Are you open welcoming those from other churches? (This question was asked on 8th April 2010)

I think your question has two parts to it, but each is essentially about hospitality. The first part of your question, about the ecumenical movement is about hospitality among Christian communities and Churches, and the second part is about the roles hospitality and silence play in our Benedictine life and how we share this life with our guests. Needless to say I think that the wider ecumenical movement might be able to learn lessons from St Benedict’s teaching on hospitality and how important it is to be able and willing to receive ‘the other’. 

First, the ecumenical movement. We are very keen on sharing our common faith and baptism in Christ with Christians of other denominations, especially as our society seems to be becoming more and more secular. As monks our lives are relatively enclosed, so the best way we have of promoting ecumenism and unity in Christ is by continually praying for it, striving towards being living examples of faith and integrity. We also welcome guests into our monastery in order for them to share in the fruits of our common life; there is no test of faith for someone to come as a guest.

More specially, for instance during Christian Unity Week each year Wells Cathedral Choir sings Evensong in our Abbey Church, and we sing Vespers in Wells Cathedral. This liturgical exchange is a very precious time for us.

As Catholics we believe that Christ founded one Church, and in order to establish this Church everywhere, till the end of time, Christ entrusted the twelve Apostles the task of teaching, ruling and sanctifying. Bishops have inherited this vocation. Among the Twelve he chose Peter on whom he chose to build his Church. We believe that the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, is Peter's successor, and that the unity of the Church is found in relation to the ministry of the Pope within the Church.

Even so, all who have been baptised are incorporated into Christ, are Christians, and are accepted as brothers in faith by the children of the Catholic Church. Accordingly, we feel that division within the Christian body contradicts the will of Christ, though the blame for this division cannot be apportioned to one specific group. But we acknowledge the importance of honestly looking at whatever needs to be renewed in our Church in order that it may, with ever increasing clarity, witness to Christ. That in a nutshell is the ‘official’ position on ecumenism. You can read more about it in the Second Vatican Council’s decree ‘Unitatis Redintegratio’ and also in a very recent publication called ‘Harvesting the Fruits’ by Cardinal Walter Kasper.  

Moving on to the second point, about hospitality. St Benedict is very clear in his Rule:  ‘All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ, for he himself will say: I was a stranger and you welcomed me. Proper honour must be shown to all, especially to those who share our faith and to pilgrim.’ [RB53:1-2] That means that guests are very important in a monastery because they help the community in their search for God and show them Christ. Guests need not be Catholic, in fact they need not be anything at all! Their dignity as human beings is enough to warrant honour and respect. The learning is reciprocal: our guests tend to get a lot from their time in the monastery, but we benefit from their prayers and their generosity of spirit. The silence of the monastery creates an inviting space where it becomes possible to open up to God and perhaps listen to him in ways one never dreamt possible.  This silence is also a crucial part of hospitality and welcoming others: suspending judgement and stilling the noise in our own mind and heart enables us to be much better listeners. I would encourage you to think about paying us a visit.   

Can the monks go home to visit their families and can they receive visits from friends and family? Can the monks to go outside the monastery? (This question was asked on 30th March 2010)

Monks are permitted to spend a certain number of nights away from the monastery, on holiday. Naturally many of those who have family members living will choose to spend some of that time, at least, with their families. Also families and friends can visit. The amount of time that a monk may spend away from the monastery depends on his experience as a monk. A new monk, in the novitiate, would not ordinarily be away from the monastery or receive visits from family or friends. This is because it is important that the novice has the space and freedom to make the transition from his old life ‘in the world’ to his new life ‘in the monastery’. Naturally, family and friends are encouraged to attend events such as professions and ordinations.

At Downside we have a tradition of ‘month days’. These typically occur on the first Thursday of each month. On these days, and during the monastic holidays following Christmas and over the summer, the monk may be absent from the mid-day office and lunch. Pocket money is obtained from the Abbot, to cover bus fares, lunch and so on. Often a couple of monks will go for a long walk in the surrounding country, stopping for a pub lunch. Sunday afternoons are another time when many will go for a walk outside the monastery grounds.

Many of our monks have pastoral responsibilities in our school or parishes. These, and other outside works, will take them outside the monastic enclosure. Rules of enclosure do, however, exist. Benedictine monks take a vow of stability, and that vow ties them both to their community, and also to the physical place in which that community exists. St Benedict was very keen that monks did not leave the enclosure unnecessarily. In Chapter 66 of his Rule, he writes that the monastic enclosure should contain everything the monks will need, so “there will be no necessity for the monks to wander outside; for this is not at all good for their souls.” A monks should positively want to be in his monastery; to be present at the liturgical offices, which St Benedict describes as “the Work of God” to which “nothing is to be preferred” (Rule of St Benedict, 43:3); and to join his brethren at table and recreation. Whilst we are not as strictly enclosed as some monastic communities, and holidays, outings and visits to and from family and friends do play a part in a monk’s life, he should expect, and should want, to spend most of his time in his monastery.

I find that writing is a help when I do lectio divina. Is this a good practice? (This question was asked on February 7th 2010)

I do think writing helps, especially if it is question of trying to make a bit of mental space and time. The only thing is to be sure that it leads to prayer, not just to solving the world's problems, or winning arguments in imaginary debates. The key is to make sure you use the 1st person singular and are referring to yourself, your life and needs (and relation to Jesus) as much as possible. The other thing is that it is a good sign when the words of the Bible take up more space than your own words. It is a rough and ready rule - but the point is that lectio is about listening to the Bible as the Word of God; it is not about writing sermons, even to oneself. A few notes about how a passage applies/fits your life can certainly help you go back to your notebook later on and return to the Word for further listening. They can also remind you how the word ‘echoed’ and the kind of meaning that may have had for you. I don't want to make it sound too complicated. It is all about listening and growing in a living faith. Anything that helps is good.

What can an older person do who feels called to monastic life? (This question was asked on 4th February 2010)

I do appreciate that there are many older people who are exploring a sense of vocation. It would be impossible to say that they should not consider monastic life.

There are always exceptions, but a monastery will generally have to bear in mind its own ability at a particular time to provide for an older person within the context of its own response to God, and its awareness of its strengths and needs. And there will always be real difficulties an older person faces in adjusting to a very different way of life with (strangely) little privacy and a strong expectation as to a newcomer's fitting into a very strenuous timetable and habits of common life.  

At any age the way forward in vocation is to deepen the spirituality of a person’s actual state of life. We are all called to holiness and the Baptism that we all share is the root of life from which we draw the grace to respond to that call. 

Very often a monastery can be a support and stimulus to a mature person’s continued growth in holiness, but usually it will be through the guest house or perhaps through becoming an Oblate. 

How do you see the challenge of empathising with the simple poor when serving the public school rich? (This question was asked on 7th December 2009)

The monasteries of the EBC are Benedictine monasteries, following the Rule of St Benedict. In his Rule St Benedict says that a monk is a man ‘truly seeking God’ within the confines of a community of like-minded men, vowed to obedience under an abbot. The main work, what St Benedict calls the Opus Dei (the Work of God), is the Divine Office, sung communally in choir several times a day. Nothing, he says, ‘is to be preferred to the Work of God’.

So Benedictines are essentially monks: prayer and the common life are the bedrock of their existence. But we do have to earn our living and different monasteries do this in varied ways: farming, book binding, publishing, retreat-giving, teaching and so forth. St Benedict says it is ideal if the work can be carried out within the confines of the monastic enclosure.

So what about our work with ‘the public school rich’? Our school started at the beginning of our life in Douai, in France, in 1606 at a time when Catholicism was proscribed in England. Because of this many English parents asked the monks if they would educate their children and so a school was started almost immediately for the children of English Catholic families. This school continued in France right up to the French Revolution when, in 1795, we were all expelled from France and settled in England.

The school, now very small, continued but we were also invited to help develop mission parishes in an England with a growing number of Catholics but with very little provision for them. So the three English houses (Downside, Ampleforth and Douai) all responded generously and a large number of mission parishes were established up and down England, catering for the needs of the Catholics. It is worth noting that these ‘missions’ depended on the material support and patronage of the wealthier Catholic families who might well have come to our schools. The monasteries therefore provided are not only for the rich but also, with their support, for the poor. Indeed, several Downside monks were asked to help out with the spiritual needs of the convicts in Australia. The Catholic Church in Sidney was to a large extent founded by William Ullathorne and Bede Polding, who were both monks of Downside.

So Benedictine work has taken monks beyond ‘the confines of the cloister’, but the need was great and in these ways the monasteries felt they could share the grace of God they received through the monastic life with the Church in the service of the Gospel. This was confirmed in 1899, when Pope Leo XIII emphasised that the particular charism of our congregation, or group of monasteries, was education, parish mission and scholarship. He urged us to continue with these good works and develop them.

At the present day, our monasteries are responsible for over fifty parishes, parishes which include some 24 parish primary schools, and some seven secondary state schools, in which monks are to be found as both chaplains and governors. And there are the four independent schools, three of them largely boarding, in which many monks work as heads, housemasters, teachers and chaplains. This goes on alongside the work done within our houses by way of retreat giving, hospitality both to the poor and to those able to pay, and much spiritual direction.

That is the history. What about now? We do believe that the charism of our schools is important in itself, trying to help young people grow up with a sense of Catholic vocation: to love God and to try and use that love to be of use in the world. Mother Teresa said once: the rich have souls to be saved too. But we also have a duty to educate young people into a Catholic understanding of human life and social values. We raise funds to support access to the schools to as many as possible. We hope that young people leaving our schools will make a real difference to the world and help make it a more Christian world, in which people have access to what they need, and want to share generously in the many blessings they have, especially through service of the poor.

How do you know? What can you look for to be sure enough to give vocation a try? (This question was asked on 21st November 2009)

Your questions are ones that everyone has I think. I think the answer really comes from prayer, and especially learning to listen in prayer. The problem there is what am I listening to? and for? That is the mystery in contemplative prayer. I really do believe that there is a way in which God speaks to us, but he does it by changing our hearts and minds (or rather by letting them grow and change in love, hope and faith). We can tune into this a lot better when we learn to focus on him in listening for his voice calling to us in the Bible.

The certainty we need, but it is not infallible, or 'northernrock-proof', is the kind of certainty we get about people. Perhaps it is more a matter of confidence than of certainty. Of course, we know we may misread people, and get things wrong, but in a vocational discernment we have to go with the kind of certainty we have in a friendship. Obviously the closer we are, the more we are prepared to risk, bit by bit, day by day, the more we can relax in our mutual knowledge. Falling in love is not always a good image for this, though it can happen. Often I think we can learn a lot from the kind of way things are just before and after the falling in love - the sense of fascination we have about someone, the way we are attracted to them, and the way that brings the best out of us... and then the way we work out in simple practical terms the fact that we are enjoying being in love, the kind of attention we pay to them, the kind of generosity it brings our of us. I don't know if that is something to think about.

What are the difficulties that face a potential monastic vocation from abroad? Is cultural difference a specific burden?  Or does it merely highlight the difficulties one would experience in any setting? (This question was asked on 6th November 2009)

This question, which is very pertinent, picks up on a number of answers previously given. In them, I was only making an empirical observation, not make an ideological point. And the reason for the difficulty is I expect pretty much as the question supposes. I would simply add that cultural  variations (especially where there is a common language) are very easy to take for  granted, and therefore to be unexpected sources of upset.   There are perhaps two qualifications. One is that I am not saying that it is impossible. There is as I have said in other replies a tradition of the pilgrim monk, specifically called to seek God in an alien (and hostile - I think that is often overlooked) environment. But this is a very exceptional vocation, and to be distinguished sharply from the usual case of a person who is looking for what  he takes to be a congenial setting for his monastic life, albeit abroad.

There is a danger that this conceals a desire to compromise on a vocation, to hope to find God in a place where there will be some cultural compensations. It is perhaps particularly true of an place like Downside, which is frankly deeply rooted in English culture. This kind of equivocation will always be tested by the Spirit.

The difficulty is how to make the next move. If the person cannot make the necessary renunciation, it may not be so easy for him, for psychological or purely practical reasons, to leave. Here we are in the territory of the kind of discernment that ought to be take place before a person is admitted to the novitiate. It is not the purpose of a novitiate to be testing a person's cultural flexibility. There are other, more fundamental reorientations that need to be taking place at that stage.

So, at least with us, this discernment is made on the basis of visits and talks while a person is in the Guest House. It is a big outlay for someone to make such visits over a period of time, only for us to come to a provisional conclusion, which will more  than likely (for statistical reasons) be negative.   

The second point is simpler. I do think it is likely to be easier for a person from abroad to find a monastic vocation in a monastery which is more radically enclosed from wider society and culture than a monastery like ours. A Cistercian or Carthusian  house has a very distinct and autonomous culture of its own, and so long as the language differences can be handled, I would not be so sceptical as I have been in previous responses. But that said, I would reply that it would still make more sense (from a purely human point of view) to explore vocation in those traditions in a person's own country. Because their internal lifestyle is already distinct from the world around them, at any rate, to some extent, but probably in the most important respects.

How many monks are in the community? Does everyone get along with one another? (This question was asked on 7th January 2009)

At Downside we are a community of 30 people. The ages range from mid-90s to 22 years. 5 monks live and work away from Downside, as well as one who is studying. There are 4 novices and postulants in formation. We also have a couple of others living with the community, one as part of his seminary formation, one for vocational experience. It is quite a diverse group of people engaged in quite a variety of work, which makes for a stimulating sharing of gifts.

A healthy community is not going to be one where everyone thinks the same or has the same personality. That would make for a cosy group of people but a rather sleepy one. There would no personal challenge and little scope for personal differences to bring the best out of each other. And what brings a religious community together will be the Holy Spirit, working on a much deeper level than our fellow feelings.

Of course there are tensions and disagreements as in any human community. The extraordinary thing about religious communities is that people come together, not because they have chosen each other, but because they believe they have been chosen by God to live in this or that way of life, with these particular people, warts and all. Our common faith and hope, encourages us to work at charity between each other (that is St Benedict’s phrase), and by companionship, mutual encouragement and fraternal correction, to realise that what unites us is far greater and more important than anything that on a human level might make it unlikely that we would choose each other as people with whom to live.

It is because of this underlying faith in God and our search for him and our commitment to do his will before anything else, that I think I can say that we are able to get along with each other quite well. A community is something we have to constantly engaged in building up with, through and for each other; but as a community where we can find Christ in our midst. The important thing above all is readiness to listen to each other and to appreciate them, regardless of what might be difficult; and a sincere effort to understand a different point of view, with a ready acceptance that I might be mistaken. No one here is infallible.

St Benedict urges a community to be ready to bear the burden of each others’ weaknesses of body and character. A community is a place which thrives on compassion, our ability to share stories and forgiveness. That is what makes it a place where the Holy Spirit can be poured out in our hearts, so that we discover how we are one in Christ, and share something of the joy and hope of his life.

Is it a sin to say no to a priestly vocation? (This question was asked on 2nd January 2009)

It all depends! A priest would be sinning if he did not live out his vocation. And in the strict sense a person is called to the priesthood by the Bishop at his Ordination. That is his vocation. Before ordination, a person may feel called to the priesthood. His vocation may be being tested and formed in his training. But it is not yet a definitive calling. So in that sense he would not be sinning to say ‘No, I want to do something else.’

This is important because in calling us to his service God works with and through our freedom. It is vital, if we are going to make his service a thing of love, that we do so in complete freedom, always trusting in his grace and guidance. We may be making a bad mistake, but God will always respect us in our choices, and I am sure he will be preparing another path for us to follow him to holiness.

Of course we may say ‘no’ because we commit some deliberate sin that prevents us being faithful to this sense of vocation. The sin, then, is not the ‘no’, but the action that involves our rejection of this possibility.

I think what often happens, though, is that a young person feels called to the priesthood, but then goes off the idea, or finds himself struggling with conflicting hopes and possibilities. There is no wrong in choosing not to be a priest. But it is wise to seek as much advice as possible about the situation and make the best decision possible. That includes prayer and trust in God to guide us. Perhaps he needs to rethink his understanding of his sense of vocation.

Many people experience this. Being Catholic, and going to Mass or whatever is very important to them. The priest at the altar does represent Christ in the sacramental order; so if Mass begins to come to life as an encounter with Christ, and this encounter will be one that invites a generous response to his love, not surprisingly he may feel a sense of calling to the priesthood. But the real thing is the call to prayer, to fuller Christian service, a recognition of God as the one who is the source and goal of our life. I think that is what a young person needs to work on first. He needs to realise that he is being called into a new kind of relationship with Jesus; and by growing in his faith, by prayer and Christian service, he needs to let this sense of calling develop. Perhaps it is right for him to try his vocation out. But it is never wise to second guess God.

How can a monastery, where everyone has to obey rules all the time, help people to live a fulfilling life? (This question was asked on 7th December 2008)

You seem concerned that monastic life may be a template that forces people into a particular, and uncongenial, style of growth. But I don't think it is the case. I think it is more a problem in some communities that have not perhaps adapted as much as others to an idea of formation that is about educating, or drawing out, what God is doing in an individual novice, of his learning to discover who God is calling him to be. There seems to have been an older idea that formation was about turning someone into a particular kind of monastic functionary. That is a real issue. A community is a particular group of people, rather imperfect and naturally a bit hesitant in its response to God. It is also a community with a history and a tradition of service to God and to the Church. God works supernaturally through very natural human and historical conditions. So monastic formation must include learning to find oneself in relation to all that, as well as helping a person in their own search for God and introducing him to the monastic path in more theoretical terms. In the end, I think a novice has to think whether he is called to find God in the monastic life as he finds it in a particular community, knowing that God does work through fallible and imperfect groups of people who sincerely seek him. All communities have been and continue to be places of encounter with the living God. Sometimes we want (and need) a bit more confirmation of that! But God is always calling us to move beyond where we are to find him in hope, trust and love. That is part of our witness to the monastic journey that we make to our brethren.

Once a man has taken all his vows etc, and he officially is a monk, will he ever see his family again? (This question was asked on 1st December 2008)

Normally, yes. I think even the most enclosed monasteries, where monks or nuns do not normally go out, have the possibility of visits by the family. They may be rather occasional, for instance once or twice a year, but they are clearly very precious times for everyone concerned. Monks have to obey the commandment to ‘honour your father and mother’, even when monastic life involves renunciation of the personal benefits of family life.

Many Benedictine monasteries allow monks to go out and make visits home and to friends. The opportunity to do this will be much more restricted than in ordinary life, but they are no less important for that. I guess that most places will allow this more for fully professed monks, and things will be stricter for those in formation; but the reason here is the formation of a habit of stability, so that novices learn to make their home in the monastic family.

And in any case, monks and nuns seem to write very good letters! They may not have time to be very prolific, but in my experience, from both ends of the relationship, they are a very special way of keeping in touch.

Why do most Benedictine monks wear black rather than white? (This question was asked on 12th October 2008)

I don't know much about the history of the habit. St Benedict does not seem to have had anything very special in mind, and what we wear is clearly derived from ordinary clothing of the early middle ages. That it became black may be partly practical, in that it does not get dirty in the way white does; partly I expect it has something to do with clerical costume, which is generally sober, and often tends to black. Monks began to be priests at an early period.

Certainly a symbolic value came to be attributed to the colour, as a sign of repentance and conversion of life. White is very much the colour of the resurrection; monks were seen as people who were working at the repentance needed for new life. That's why some more recent orders have decided to wear white. The Cistercians do too; I think that is because they wanted to keep things simple and wear clothes that were bleached but not dyed.

Is there a minimum or maximum age for joining a monastery? (This question was asked on 10th October 2008)

The minimum age in Church Law to be a monk is 17. In England I expect a monastery would expect someone to be at least 18, so that they have effectively completed secondary education. Most monasteries, I think, would expect someone as young as that to spend a year or two after school, getting some experience of living outside full time institutions, so that they have an experience of personal autonomy. Many people in this country probably won't think about monasteries until they have completed tertiary education, and so be around 21 years. Some would want a person to have some further experience beyond that.

In practice around 40 years is a rule-of-thumb maximum for many monasteries, though it will always be accepted that there could be exceptions made. The problem is that it becomes increasingly difficult for a person to adapt himself to the requirements of monastic community life as time goes on. An abbess once said to me that the only exception she could think of was someone who had been widowed after a happy marriage – because they had learnt to live in a real community.

It would be usual to ask a person who is new to Catholic life to spend two or three years before they applied formally to a monastery. In that time, I am sure a monastery would try to keep in good contact with the aspirant, but it is good to settle into the mainstream Catholic Church first.

At Downside, we are not closed to the idea of a young person joining even before 20 years. But we would want them to have had some significant experience of living and working for themselves, especially perhaps in the volunteer area. This is so that a person can really have a chance to live out a Christian lay vocation as a young adult; we think that monastic vocation normally grows out of that.

Having spent time abroad, I feel that joining a monastery in a different country would emphasize closure on one's past...for some. The polar extreme would be to join a monastery close to one's previous home, possibly making it difficult to focus on one's vocation. Are there reservations to accepting citizens of other countries? (This question was asked on 5th October 2008)

In the early days there were many monks who thought like this, and as a result much of central of Europe was evangelised by monks from Ireland! They were taking very literally the command made to Abraham to leave his country and family and go to a land God would show him. Or they had in mind Jesus’ words that a prophet is not recognised in his own country. But the idea generally works better in theory than in practice.

The problem is twofold. One is if people are trying to turn their back on their past – a kind of running away from things. The trouble is you never can walk away just like that. The real problem is what you bring with you, and usually only people who can recognise that the problem is in them, at any rate the one they have to deal with. A monk needs to grow in self-knowledge and be prepared to do the necessary work on himself before he can really give himself selflessly to the loving service others. In the end that is what asceticism and mortification in monastic life is about.

The other difficulty is that we are formed very deeply by the language, history and culture of our homeland; and we take a great deal for granted at that level, which is very close to the level of a spiritual life. Another country is a foreign culture, however close in terms of language and/or history. Especially where there is a common language, it is all the easier to take things for granted and be disappointed. In order to find peace in ourselves and in order to give ourselves wholly to the Lord's service, we need to draw on the Christian culture of the community in which we live. There can be serious tensions between the culture we bring with us and the culture of the community where we are trying to live. A love of English or European history or styles of architecture and landscape in fact only confuses the issue.

This is not to deny the possibility of following a vocation abroad, but there do have to be, in a real sense, two vocations - one to monastic life; and one to abandon home and culture in a really profound sense, in order to find God in a land which God will show us. This is a very special vocation indeed. One of the reasons monks have gone abroad is directly missionary in intention, but it is worth noting that in the case of Benedictine monks going abroad on a mission, they are sent and return as a matter of obedience, not because of their own decisions.

The contrary case of joining a monastery next door is also not a direct opposite. There is always a need to make a break with one's home and family, even when monks do have the chance to visit them and even have holidays with them. Having your family next door means it is harder to break the ties that have to be broken. But this is not a cultural issue; it is a personal one. It is not impossible, but it does need very careful judgement on both the individual's and on the family's part.

Can you describe monks’ eating habits? Does monastic life help with the sin of gluttony? (This question was asked on 11th July 2008)

Basically monks eating habits are not too bizarre. Benedictines tend to have a diet pretty close to a normal diet - good wholesome food, probably a bit institutionalised, though many monasteries are able to do their own cooking. That gives a bit more scope for interest! I am afraid it is easy in a sedentary lifestyle to eat too much! That is not gluttony, I think; just laziness about exercise, plus a bit of comfort eating!

Some monasteries make more of abstinence from meat than others, and more than ordinary families, not only on Fridays, but also on Wednesdays and possibly Saturdays; more again in Lent perhaps. And Cistercians and Carthusians have a much more vegetarian diet and perhaps eat fish only exceptionally.

Increasingly, monasteries will have a light breakfast, and only one main meal.

Another custom which is kept in some monasteries is to delay the time of eating a main meal later in the day in times of fasting.

As regards dealing with gluttony, it needs to be said that this can always be a problem, and it arises both by eating too much and too little. It is the obsession with food, or with health or with physical appearance that is often the real difficulty. But monastic eating habits help address it, partly by insisting on regular times of eating, discouraging snacking; eating together helps put a brake on how much or how little you eat; and it trains one to see eating as about relationships with others, rather than with oneself.

Another factor is that we eat in silence, which means we cannot talk incessantly about food, or complain about it so easily: we can listen to something more instructive and edifying. Eating together, and serving each other and cooking for each other helps train a detachment which I think is important. Those seem to me to be relevant factors. But most of all is the development of a healthy spiritual life and a life prayer in general.

Do you have to have been born catholic to become a monk and what are some of the restrictions for monks for example can you talk if not necessary? (This question was asked on 1st July 2008)

No, you don't have to be a born Catholic to be a monk.

There are non-Catholic monks, to start with, which is a whole different story.

In fact many monks are converts to Catholicism. Sometimes, in fact, the process of becoming Catholic is very much part of the vocation story that leads to becoming a monk. However, the usual recommendation is to leave it a couple of years after conversion before applying to a monastery. This is to help the person settle into their 'new home', as it were, and get involved in the ordinary sacramental and spiritual life of the local church.

As to restrictions, we can certainly talk if necessary. And this not only for work purposes but also for mutual support and companionship. But silence is a very important value in order to learn to listen to God as well as to each other. So we try to have times and places of silence, and times and places for conversation. Most people do find monasteries very quiet.

Restrictions, St Benedict says, should not be for the sake of restrictions, but in order to restrain vice and give space and structure for growth in virtue and holiness.