BBC reality show puts non-Catholics into 'The Monastery' for 40 days

Published: 2005-05-10

LONDON (CNS) -- Dom Perignon, the man who put his name to one of the best-known brands of champagne, was perhaps the only Benedictine priest ever to have made an impression on Tony Burke, an agnostic who once filmed trailers for a sex chat line. But after Burke, 29, spent 40 days and 40 nights in Worth Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in Crawley, England, he was a changed man. He underwent a religious conversion, came to believe in God, quit his job -- and never looked back. "It's the best thing I've ever done," he said. Burke, a resident of London, was one of five men selected from hundreds to take part in "The Monastery," a three-part reality television show being broadcast in Britain by the British Broadcasting Corp. beginning May 10. The show followed the experiences of the each of the five participants, none of whom were Catholic, as they tried to adapt to the Benedictine way of life. "We saw in this project an opportunity to discover what our way of life offers to people today who do not share our beliefs," Benedictine Abbot Christopher Jamison said in a May 3 statement.

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