For those who care about Britain’s heritage, one of the 21st century’s big dilemmas will be what to do about churches that religious communities and congregations can’t afford to support. Hundreds, even thousands, of superb buildings will soon fall into that category if the sea of faith continues to recede. If you want an illustration of what anguish that may cause, consider what’s going on at Stanbrook Abbey in Worcestershire.
An enclosed community of 24 nuns — average age 65, three in wheelchairs — is being uprooted, unwillingly it seems, from a home occupied by this Benedictine order for 170 years. The nuns will be separated from their historic archive of 50,000 books. And their wonderful Victorian abbey church, perhaps E. W. Pugin’s finest building, could end up sliced into maisonettes.
Money is at the root of this, of course. Stanbrook’s buildings may look splendid, but in such basic matters as heating and plumbing they are primitive. The Abbess, who in Benedictine law has total control over what happens within the abbey walls, thinks that the cost of modernising is prohibitive. So Stanbrook’s buildings and lovely grounds, below the Malverns, are on the market for £6 million. The nuns have been told that after the sale they will be put in temporary blocks until a purpose-built home is constructed — on the Yorkshire moors, of all places.
The irony is that this new nunnery is expected to cost £8 million. So the Benedictines will still need to find an extra £2 million. Yet presumably if they could find £2 million they could do the necessary upgrading to Stanbrook, and a lot more besides.
Nuns don’t make a habit (as it were) of gossiping to outsiders. Nevertheless, it seems that this decision is causing distress within Stanbrook. Four dissenters have apparently left the community. Others say they are determined to stay put in the abbey, come what may (and I wouldn’t like to handle the public relations of anyone who tried to evict a bunch of elderly nuns). The Prince of Wales has been petitioned for help — and, I gather, counter-petitioned by the Abbess. And in Germany a community of Benedictine monks has written to the Pope to protest at events in Stanbrook. The monks point out that they were in a similar situation, but saved their abbey by making it available commercially for seminars.
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Meanwhile, the fate of Pugin’s great vaulted church, with its carvings, stained glass, bells, organ and cloisters, remains desperately uncertain. To the irritation of heritage guardians such as the Victorian Society, it is only Grade II listed. All the experts agree that this is too low for such a gem. But somehow an application to upgrade it to II* has become stuck — for 14 months — in a bureaucratic black hole between English Heritage and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The owner of the in-tray in which it now gathers dust needs kicking, because without that upgrade the abbey and its peaceful grounds are much more vulnerable to grotesque redevelopment.
There is still hope that the nuns could stay at Stanbrook by following the German monastery’s example. Another religious order could be invited to share the buildings. Or Stanbrook could become a retreat, offering tranquillity and time for inner contemplation to people of all faiths or none. Another idea is to build on the nuns’ tradition of expertise in Gregorian chant and turn Stanbrook into a study centre for sacred music.
But none of that can happen if, as seems the case, the Abbess is determined to sell. In which case, English Heritage has made its preferences explicit. The best possible buyer, it says, would be another religious institution or, failing that, an educational institution or organisation that would run Stanbrook as a community centre. Less preferable would be a buyer intent on turning the buildings into offices or a hotel. And worst of all, in EH’s view, would be the conversion of Stanbrook into a gated residential estate. Unfortunately, that is the most lucrative option for property developers.
Somewhere, perhaps, there is a spiritual or educational institution with £6 million to spare and a craving for fine buildings in idyllic countryside. I hope so. But I am pessimistic. Back in 1889, the nuns believe, a miracle was witnessed inside their abbey. They may need another if Stanbrook is to be preserved with its integrity and beauty intact.
Judas isn’t innocent, ok
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While on Catholic matters, what about the Vatican’s plan to “rehabilitate” Judas Iscariot because he was “fulfilling God’s plan” when he betrayed Jesus? To me the logic seems decidedly dodgy. Does man not have free will? Aren’t we accountable for our actions? Are murderers, muggers and molesters also “fulfilling God’s plan”? According to Rome-watchers, the subtext to this move is the new Pope’s desire to “improve Christian/Jewish relations”. As Judas was Jewish, it’s now considered politically incorrect to make him the scapegoat for the Crucifixion. Which is a bit odd. With a few exceptions, such as Pontius Pilate and the Good Samaritan, everyone in the Gospels was Jewish — Jesus included. The Vatican ought to stick with its original story. After 2,000 years, it ‘s a bit late to start fiddling with it now.
Access all arias
The opera world is agog at the tale of a young singer who apparently set up separate homes with both his wife and his girlfriend, and managed to keep up this double-life for two years without either lady finding out about t’other. The singer said he had a sick father who needed regular visits. Only when his wife phoned his father to express sympathy for his prolonged illness was her hubby’s awful deception revealed. What a rotter! And yet, speaking as a husband who can’t even spread a little extra butter on his toast without his wife somehow sensing guilt, I would love to know how the man managed to dissemble so convincingly for so long. He should stop singing and set up as an adultery guidance counsellor. He would make a fortune.
By George!
Why the indignation about George Galloway’s cavortings on Celebrity Big Brother? As I understand it, Gorgeous G has agreed to be locked up in a house where all his political statements are censored. The CIA couldn’t have arranged it better.