To become a monk of Worth, a person must firstly be an active member of the Roman Catholic Church. Secondly, a candidate comes to stay as a guest for a few days and then returns for several more visits at regular intervals. St Benedict says: ‘Do not grant newcomers to the monastery an easy entry but test the spirits to see if they are from God (1 Jn 4:1).’

The candidate then asks to be admitted as a postulant. He will come to live for 3 to 6 months as a layman in the guest house, learning to detach himself from his former life. He then asks to be clothed in the habit as a novice, for a year of intense prayer, formation and discernment. During that year, the novice asks: in response to the call of Christ, should I make monastic vows? If the answer is yes, then he makes simple vows for between three and nine years, before making final vows for life. He may then go on to be ordained as a priest.

Taking the first step towards becoming a monk is not easy, so we have set up some stepping stones to help you. Here are three stepping stones:

Compass

Compass is a programme for men and women who have a general sense of vocation to the religious life but who want to discern how this might be expressed.
To contact Compass, visit the website here.

The Guest House

The first step for those who think they may have a vocation to this monastery, is to come and stay a few days as a guest.
To stay in the guest house send an email to Fr Thomas at guestmaster@worthabbey.net

Monastic Experience Weekends

A further step is to come to a weekend specially for those considering monastic life.
For a Monastic Experience Weekend send an email to Fr Luke at vocations@worthabbey.net

To contact the Novice Master directly, send an email to Fr Luke at vocations@worthabbey.net