Fr Simon heads to Washington DC

Father Simon McGurk is to become Superior, or Prior Administrator, of St Anselms' Abbey, Washington D.C. not far from the White House.
At the moment he is in charge of the Monastery of the Incarnation in Peru. He returns to Belmont at Easter for a short break before starting his new job in the United States in June.

The decision to move Father Simon to Washington came following a recent meeting of the General Chapter of the Benedictine English Congregation, which agreed to work together to find the right people to fill various posts at St Anselms which runs a prestigious college. Father Simon's name was put forward and he has now been confirmed as the Superior, equivalent to Abbot of the abbey , a post he will hold for four years.

"I had to offer someone to serve in Washington and it had to be one of the best,'' said the Abbot.
Father Paul described it as a very important job and said he was certain Father Simon, who had spent some time in Brooklyn, New York, in the past would enjoy his stay there. Since 2001 he has been in charge of the Monastery of the Incarnation established by Belmont 25 years ago.

Father Simon, who is 62, was born in Cheshire and went to Belmont Abbey School from the age of 13 to 18. He joined the monastery after turning down a place at Manchester University to read architecture, and took his vows in 1965. He later read theology at a university in Switzerland before returning to Belmont in 1969 where he was to become house master of Vaughan House for 14 years and then headmaster for five years.

He taught art, religion, rugby and rowing, graduated in the Open University Art Degree Course, was guest and retreat master at the abbey and initiated the Belmont Retreat Programme.
In 1994 he was appointed parish priest at Belmont and in 1997 moved to St Francis Xavier Church in Hereford where he saw the completion of the restoration of the city centre church which had previously faced demolition. In 1995 Father Simon was appointed Catholic Dean of Herefordshire.

Posted 1st March 2005
St Anselm's Abbey, Washington
In 1923 a group of five Americans (four of them diocesan Priests) applied to the English Benedictine Congregation for sponsorship in establishing a monastic community of the English Benedictine tradition in Washington which would have close spiritual and scholarly links with the Catholic University of America. Abbot Joseph MacDonald of Fort Augustus agreed to adopt the group, and they were admitted to the Fort Augustus novitiate. Four of these novices persevered and made their simple profession in September 1924. The group, augmented by six monks of Fort Augustus and under the priorship of Fr Wulstan Knowles, returned soon after to establish the new monastery in temporary quarters in a farmhouse in the northeast section of the city of Washington, near the Catholic University campus. A permanent monastery and church were completed in 1930 on a tract adjacent to the original site. St Anselm’s became a conventual priory of the English Congregation in 1949 and an abbey in 1961.

The work of the community is varied. Faithful to the original founders’ concept of a monastery devoted to scholarship there continues to be monks of St Anselm’s on the faculty of Catholic University and at other universities and theological schools in the metropolitan area. In 1942 educational work on the secondary level was begun with the establishment of a day school for boys. Over the years separate school facilities have been constructed on the site. The school, now numbering 220 boys aged 12-18, has achieved a distinguished academic record with its graduates entering the finest colleges and universities in the country and overseas and is recognized as one of the outstanding US secondary schools.

In addition to teaching and research, the monks of St Anselm’s are engaged in pastoral assistance in the parishes of the diocese and chaplaincy work in neighbouring religious communities and in hospitals. Private retreats and personal spiritual direction are part of the guest apostolate within the monastery, and several monks are involved in retreats, especially for religious communities, around the country.

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St Anselm's Abbey