Lay community from Chile to help at Ampleforth Abbey

Ampleforth Abbey, in York, is set to get a helping hand from a Chilean lay community.

A small group of members of the Manquehue Apostolic Movement will be settling in as a community on the Ampleforth campus in early January 2016 to devote themselves to a two-year period of service in the schools.

The group already had an arrangement with Ampleforth, where they spent a term at the abbey every year since 2004.

During their stay at Ampleforth, the Chilean visitors will take part in lectio divina and reading and reflection on Scripture, as well as sharing their faith and mission with students at both Ampleforth College and St Martin’s Ampleforth.

Abbot of Ampleforth, Fr Cuthbert Madden OSB, said this was a “wonderful opportunity” to deepen the relationship between the Manquehue Movement and Ampleforth.

“The Manquehue Movement was inspired by the Benedictine spirit at Ampleforth,” he said, “and it is both humbling and gratifying that over thirty years later some members of that community wish to commit themselves to a longer period of service in our schools.”

Headmaster of Ampleforth College, David Lambon, he is looking forward to the longer visits.

“In the past”, he said, “we have seen the tremendous benefit of the work they have done with students in just one term, helping them to reflect on their faith and begin to share that faith with others, something which is a great challenge in our secularised society.

“We hope that this initiative will be of service not just to Ampleforth, but to the wider Church in both Chile and the United Kingdom”.

The Manquehue Apostolic Movement was founded in Chile in 1977 by José Manuel Eguiguren, who is now married with five children.

Its members, who are all lay people, refer to the movement as an “extended Benedictine community”, inspired by the Rule of St Benedict.