I have it from a reliable source that the Benedictine monks are to leave St Augustine’s Abbey in Ramsgate.For some I suppose this will mean a real estate opportunity, after all I suppose in the strictest sense it is already a HMO.
For others this will be a sad end to this long relationship with Thanet, though I suppose for most of Thanet’s residents if there are any feelings at all it will be those of indifference.
I am thinking Eliot here not George: “No compliment can be eloquent, except as an expression of indifference”. But T S “indifference abides the growth and decay proper to human experience” it wasn’t always the case.
The picture above shows their was shrine, apparently it was desecrated so often by anti-Catholics that the monks had to remove it.
it is a shame we never appreciate what we have until it is gone
ReplyDeleteWhat a pity they are going. I suppose their building will be replaced by so called luxury flats they nobody wants.
ReplyDeleteSadly you are probably right!
ReplyDeleteI peered through the grille in their door once and it looked like Father Ted's sitting room. Then the door opened and the spitting image of Father Jack appeared before me. That has always given me a smile as I walk past. Sorry to hear the news.
ReplyDeleteIt appears to be the result of a vote by the monks themselves but still very sad.Feels like another outpost of civilization folding up.
ReplyDeleteSadly they made some foolish errors in disposing of assets around the monastery in the 70s for a pittance and did likewise when they closed and then sold the huge real estate and grounds at Westgagte for a reputed £700,000. The furniture in the place was sold by the new owners for a figure close to £100,000 alone. Whilst an un-wordly outlook makes them unique and very special, I feel they have taken poor advice in the past in regard to their financial matters and have squandered their real estate resources that others have profited from. Other Benedictine monks closed their school in the early 1990s and developed their own housing estate and are financially secure as a result.
ReplyDeleteactually I thought the church, abbey and grounds were always owned by the local diocese not the monks themselves, they were merely custodians.
ReplyDeleteI guess the decisions in the 70's may well have involved the monks however.