Worth Abbey
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| Monastery information | |
|---|---|
| Order | Benedictine |
| Established | 1933 |
| Mother house | Downside Abbey, Stratton-on-the-Fosse, Somerset |
| Dedicated to | Our Lady, Help of Christians |
| People | |
| Founder(s) | John Chapman |
| Abbot | Luke Jolly |
| Important associated figures |
John Chapman Christopher Jamison |
| Site | |
| Location |
Crawley, West Sussex, England |
| Coordinates | 51°5′33.16″N 0°7′5.94″W / 51.0925444°N 0.1183167°WCoordinates: 51°5′33.16″N 0°7′5.94″W / 51.0925444°N 0.1183167°W |
| Public access | Yes |
The Abbey of Our Lady, Help of Christians, commonly known as Worth Abbey, is a community of Roman Catholic monks who follow the Rule of St Benedict near Turners Hill village, in West Sussex, England. It is attached to Worth School.
Like all Benedictine monks, the monks of Worth Abbey place the public prayer of the Church (the opus dei or work of God) at the centre of their lives. In common with other monasteries of the English Benedictine Congregation their tradition also places stress on daily periods of individual prayer and lectio divina (the prayerful reading of scripture). Through writing, preaching and hospitality they make this tradition available to others.
Through the Open Cloister, which incorporates a daily and residential retreat programme, Worth Abbey is host to over 2000 visitors a year. There is also an extensive schedule of residential conferences at the Abbey throughout the year. The community administers a charity, Outreach Peru, which supports a range of health and social welfare projects in Lima and other parts of Peru. Several of the monks serve as chaplains in Worth School, in the local parish around Turner's Hill, and in the Tinsley House immigration detention centre. Compass, a project for young people who are considering a religious vocation, is based at Worth and run by the monks in co-operation with other Catholic religious groups.
There is a Quiet Garden in the grounds of the Abbey, which, like the Abbey Church, is open to the public.
The Lay Community of St Benedict, a lay Benedictine movement, was founded at Worth Abbey and maintains close links with the monastic community.
Worth Abbey is a daughter house of St Gregory's Abbey, at Downside, in Somerset. Worth Priory was founded in September 1933 by Abbot John Chapman, a convert from the Church of England, who established a community of 17 monks in the property formerly known as Paddockhurst, near Turners Hill village. The conditions of sale of the property laid down that the name Paddockhurst should not be used by the new owners. Because the Priory lay within the boundaries of Worth parish, the name Worth was chosen for the site. The first prior of Worth, Dom Anselm Rutherford, chose Our Lady, Help of Christians, as the patron of the new monastery.
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