This year, Fr Richard celebrates 60 years of monastic life at Ampleforth Abbey but his connection with Ampleforth Abbey began long before he entered the monastery. Having first attended a Catholic primary school in Surrey, he was eager to follow in the footsteps of his father and older brother by coming to Ampleforth.
As a pupil, Fr Richard threw himself into school life, taking part in athletics, the theatre and the Sea Scouts, and developed a particular enthusiasm for physics. However, upon leaving school in 1959, his future was still far from certain. He started working as a delivery driver for a potato merchant, saving enough to buy his first car - a pre-war Morgan. The seller was asking for £120, but Fr Richard managed to successfully negotiate the price down to £60!
Determined to study physics at Oxford, he applied seven times before eventually being accepted at Imperial College. Even then, his plans continued to evolve. He began considering engineering, undertaking work experience in the field and exploring opportunities with the Royal Navy.
Nonetheless, thoughts of monastic life were not completely absent. Like many Ampleforth pupils, and like his father before him, Fr Richard had wondered about joining the monastery while at school. However, he didn’t quite feel ready to make that commitment at the time.
It was upon Fr Richard’s return to Ampleforth for an Old Amplefordians’ athletics match that he began to give this idea serious consideration, after discovering that several of his former classmates had joined the monastery.
He sought advice from Abbot Basil Hume, who, in turn, asked him about his prayer life. “Prayer life” sounded awfully grand to Fr Richard, like something that involved regularly attending Office or spending long periods in formal prayer. Over time, however, he came to understand it differently: prayer could also be found in much smaller things, such as simply saying thank you to Christ.
Around the same time, Fr Richard took part in the Lourdes Pilgrimage, where he spoke to Fr Ambrose, who later became Abbot of Ampleforth. Fr Ambrose encouraged him to pursue the possibility of joining the monastery, with one simple piece of advice: “Keep praying.”
After considering numerous ways of living out his vocation, Ampleforth Abbey ultimately felt like the natural choice. Fr Richard already knew the place well from his school days but, more importantly, he valued the support of the community, recognising that he would find it difficult to live out his Christian faith entirely on his own.
In September 1966, Fr Richard returned to Ampleforth, this time as a novice monk. Usually, a candidate would spend several months as a postulant, gradually becoming familiar with the rhythm of monastic life and integrating into the community. However, as Fr Richard was already well known at Ampleforth from his years at the College, his postulancy lasted just one week.
He then received his habit and was formally clothed as a novice. He still remembers the final words of Abbot Basil’s talk before the Clothing: “Keep cheerful, don’t grumble and don’t get complicated”.
Fr Richard began as a novice monk alongside three others, all entering under Fr Edmund. As the years passed, he would be the only one of the four to remain in the monastic community.
For three years, Fr Richard and the other novices studied Scripture three times a week with Fr Henry, who had recently returned from studying in Rome and Jerusalem. And 60 years later, Fr Henry remains the person Fr Richard turns to when he has questions about Scripture.
For Fr Richard, the journey was not without its challenges. During his third year he began to experience periods of loneliness, but he didn’t let this stop his vocation and, in his fourth year, he began studying for a Diploma in Theology at St Benet’s Hall in Oxford University. It was during this time that he made his Solemn Vows and, seven years after first entering the monastery, he was ordained as a priest.
Having sworn at university that the one thing he would never do was teaching, Fr Richard then enjoyed over 30 years teaching at Ampleforth College, but his monastic journey would eventually take him far beyond Ampleforth. After running the Sea Scouts and then being a housemaster for 21 years, Fr Richard spent 13 years living and working at the monastery in Zimbabwe before returning to Ampleforth at the age of 75, where he has remained since.
Over his 60 years as a member of the monastic community, Fr Richard has witnessed significant changes at Ampleforth. The community is now around a quarter of the size it was when he first entered as a novice, yet he has seen its outreach and the range of people it touches grow considerably.
Reflecting on his years as a monk, Fr Richard spoke particularly about the privilege of being able to make a positive difference in people's lives. A recent email from a former pupil in Zimbabwe brought this home to him. The young man had been part of a group of children who received funding to attend school and continue their education. Years later, he has gone on to obtain a PhD and has recently visited Ampleforth to express his thanks.
For Fr Richard, moments such as this offer a powerful reminder of the lasting impact that can come from a life of service. To see how someone he encountered years ago has flourished, and to know that he played a small part in helping to make that possible, is perhaps one of the most rewarding reflections of his 60 years in monastic life.
