The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, is inviting young Christians to spend a year living the monastic life at Lambeth Palace, his official London residence.
You can apply in February 2015. The first intake will run from September 2015 until June 2016, and repeat each year after that. There is room for 16 full-time members and 40 part-time members. And the Archbishop is also seeking a prior to lead this community.
I have already mentioned that Archbishop Justin has a community of prayer, Chemin Neuf, living there already:
The Archbishop is a Benedictine Oblate with an appreciation of Ignatian spirituality who invited Chemin Neuf, a French Catholic community with an ecumenical vocation, to live with him at Lambeth Palace.
This new venture appears another very exciting development in this direction.
The St Anselm Community twitter profile
Archbishop Justin talks about the new community – start at 17:10
Top image: Archbishop joins Walsingham youth pilgrimage
Source of The Crypt Chapel image showing the oldest remaining section of Lambeth Palace
This would be a wonderful opportunity fror any young New Zealand Anglican, who is willing to entertain the prospect of a vocation to the Religious Life – within the context of a catholic understanding of our Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. This unique opportunity to discover a calling to prayer and action in the modern world – in community with other young people – must be priceless!
What is needed now is for our dioceses to encourage such vocations and to enable, by practical support, our young people to apply for what will be a very competitive chance to be on board. With the ABC’s keenness to promote the Religious Life within our Church, this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for enthusiastic Kiwis.