St Benedict Week - Talks
2025 St Benedict Week Talks
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The theme for this year's talks is "St Benedict's message for Europe in 2025: Celebrating 60 years of St Benedict as patron of Europe."
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Abbot Jeremias Schröder
12th July 2025
Abbot Primate
Abbot Jeremias will be our keynote speaker this year. More details will be available soon. We are delighted that he will be speaking on St Benedict and his relevance 60 years after he was named as Patron of Europe.
2024 St Benedict Week Talks
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The theme for 2024 is "Benedict: Opportunity in a time of crisis."
In a world which resembles the epoch when St Benedict wrote his Rule, following the collapse of the Roman Empire, Pope Francis recently said to the Roman Curia, “Brothers and sisters, Christendom no longer exists.” Our speakers will explore different aspects of the heritage of the Rule of St Benedict, and how this presents an opportunity as we move into an apostolic age of renewal.
Jerome Beards
Discipleship and Digital Coordinator
8th July 2024 - "Discovering rootedness"
Jerome is the current Discipleship and Digital Coordinator for The Lay Community of St Benedict. He is passionate about helping young people to grow in their faith and bringing them to a deeper knowledge of Christ. Alongside his work with the community, he is also studying an MA in Jungian and Post-Jungian Studies at The University of Essex.
Rowan Williams
Former Archbishop of Canterbury, theologian and poet
9th July 2024 - "Madeleine Delbrêl - forming community in response to danger and need"
Rowan Williams is a Welsh Anglican bishop, poet and theologian who has served both as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury and as a member of the House of Lords. Williams has written extensively both on ecumenism and inter-faith relations. He has also written on Benedictine spirituality in The Way of St Benedict. He gave a memorable address to the Lay Community of St Benedict in 2021 as part of our 50th anniversary celebrations.
Dr Scholastica Jacob
Researcher
10th July 2024 - "St Benedict, guide in a time of crisis"
Dr Scholastica Jacob is a researcher at the University of Durham and a former member of Stanbrook Abbey, a convent of Benedictine nuns in Wass, North Yorkshire. She also works as a librarian and an archivist at St Antony's Priory, Durham. Her areas of research include nineteenth century religious life, the growth of Anglican monastic orders and women's reading habits and books.
Fr Chad Boulton
Novice Master at Ampleforth Abbey
13th July 2024 - "Still full of sap, still green – Benedictine fruitfulness today"
Fr Chad Boulton OSB joined the monastic community of Ampleforth Abbey in 1992 and worked as a Housemaster and Chaplain in Ampleforth College. He is currently Novice Master, and Oblate Master, as well as being part of the Retreat Team. Not only will he be delivering a talk for St Benedict Week, but he has also been interviewed by Jerome Beards for an LCSB podcast episode which will be released during the week.
2023 St Benedict Week Talks
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The theme for 2023 is "Celebrating Benedict"
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Abbot Christopher Jamison
Abbot President of the English Benedictine Congregation
9th July 2023 - "All should be called to counsel"
At a time when the Church is learning about synodality, Abbot Christopher talks about how we discern together the future of the Church, aided by the wisdom of St Benedict. After ordination as a priest in 1978, Abbot Christopher began work in Worth School. In 1994 he was appointed as Headmaster of the Senior school and served until 2002. He concluded one term as Abbot in 2010 at which time he was appointed as the Director of England and Wales' National Office for Vocations. He served in that role until 2017 when he was elected as the Abbot President of the English Benedictine Congregation where he serves to the present time
Mary Hirst
Lay Benedictine
11th July 2023 - "Benedict: Pointer to Christ"
Mary overwhelmed us with the depth of her insight into the way that Benedict leads us to Christ. Mary is married and is a promised member of the Manquehue Movement. She is an ex-pupil of Ampleforth College, has worked in chaplaincy at Downside School and was the Discipleship Coordinator of the LCSB from 2022-2023. She is passionate about prayer and Lectio Divina and sharing with these others.
Abbess Anne Clarke
Abbess of Malling Abbey
16th July 2023 - "Benedict's Path of Prayer"
"Why pray when the world is world is burning?" Abbess Anna poses this question in her talk on Benedict's path of prayer and its vital place in life. Anne Clarke OSB is Abbess of the community of Anglican Benedictine nuns living at Malling Abbey in Kent. Before joining the community in 2009 she had a long career writing software for the internet but came to realise that wisdom was not to be found in that fragmented deluge of information. Her passion for healing of people and planet led her to embrace a contemplative path and ultimately to the simple and focused life of a traditional monastic.
