‘It’s the people we most dislike who can teach us most.’

Wise stuff, you’d surely agree - though not, necessarily, what you’d expect to hear expressed within a reality-TV show.

The latest programme in the genre, however, is remarkably different from the usual fare. For a start, it’s called ‘the Monastery’, and the ‘host’ is Father Christopher Jamison - abbot of Worth Abbey in Sussex, which is home to 22 other Benedictine monks.

The ‘contestants’ are not your typical plastic personalities who are in it for the exposure, but five men who hope, instead, to see whether a spell in the monastery can address their differing needs.

Tony, an atheist involved in the porn industry, wants to discover what’s right and wrong. Gary, who was embroiled in the Irish troubles, wants to find healing for the time he spent in prison.

Nick, studying for a doctorate in Buddhism, recently returned to his Anglican roots but is struggling to make a leap of faith. Anthoney, a high-earning bachelor, is searching for inner peace. And Peter, a poet, hopes to find an answer to the ultimate question, ‘What is the meaning of life?’

As Fr Christopher explains, the idea is ‘to discover what our way of life offers to people today who do not share our beliefs.’

The three-show series, which started this Tuesday on BBC2, offers a compelling insight both into monastic life and to the issues facing spiritual searchers today. The participants aren’t required to vote each other out, thankfully, but they do have to conform rigorously to the challenges of community life, and to the disciplined routine of work and prayer as set out by St Benedict 1,500 years ago.

From the start, Fr Christopher hoped that the participants ‘would discover hidden depths in their lives, and in those hidden depths encounter God…’ And it seems that his prayer has been answered. Tony, at the end of one mentoring session, records in his video diary that ‘I didn’t want this to happen… When I woke up this morning, I didn’t believe in this, but, as I speak to you now, I do.’

Whether viewers share the experience remains to be seen. However, as some of the oldest questions arise again in today’s new world, it seems that even if people think they don’t like us, they still have something to learn from Christians. And that’s good news, indeed, from the ‘real’ world.

Brian Draper

additional resources

'Explore your spiritual future' with the Worth Abbey monks at www.compass-points.org.uk.

The BBC's mini site about the Monastery has plenty of fascinating details about the routine of the monks and the teaching of St benedict - at www.bbc.co.uk.

Worth Abbey's website is at www.worthabbey.net.

Find out more about the Order of St Benedict at www.osb.org.

Buckfast Abbey is another Benedictine monastery, this time in Devon. Find it online at www.buckfast.org.uk.

If you don't want to become a monk or a nun, but you fancy a spiritual retreat, visit www.retreatsonline.com/uk.