Apr 13 2005
icsurrey
By Alison Bennett
WHEN we heard another reality TV show was being filmed in Worth we were sceptical.
But three-part series
The Monastery has loftier aims than the average episode of Big Brother.
The show follows five very different men living as Benedictine monks for 40 days and 40 nights to discover whether the core values of humility, obedience and silence are relevant to their busy, modern lives.
The Monastery was filmed at Worth Abbey for the BBC last summer and is due to be screened shortly.
Worth Abbey's Abbot, Father Christopher Jamison, said the show was an opportunity to show people with differing views what life inside the monastery is like.
"We saw in this project an opportunity to discover what our way of life offers to people today who do not share our beliefs," he said. "We had distinct hopes for the participants and for the viewers. For the participants, we hoped that they would discover hidden depths in their lives and in those hidden depths encounter God.
"The Monastery is a serious and thought-provoking programme and we were pleased to be involved with it."
Worth Abbey has a community of 22 Benedictine monks who follow the Rule of St Benedict, a Rule written 1,500 years ago.
The contestants were chosen from 250 applicants, to spend six weeks in the monastery living in close proximity to each other and to the monastic community.
The five have little or no experience of Catholicism or monastic life and left their ordinary lives behind for the duration of the show to discover if the monks' age-old values can still speak to a new generation.
As the News went to press there was still no transmission date but the
BBC said The Monastery would be on BBC2 in the spring.
