Death of former Abbot of Ampleforth, Timothy Wright

Abbot Timothy Wright

Source: Ampleforth Abbey

Dom Timothy Wright, former Abbot of Ampleforth Abbey, has died at the age of 76. He had been living at Ealing Abbey in London, while receiving medical treatment for cancer.

Martin Wright (Timothy was his monastic name) was born in New Ollerton in Nottinghamshire and, along with his three brothers, was educated at Ampleforth. Three of them - Stephen, Timothy and Ralph - joined the monastic community, Timothy in 1962; he was ordained priest in 1972.

Prior to ordination, he had studied Geography, and so when he joined the academic staff of Ampleforth College in the early 1970s it was as a teacher of Geography and Religious Studies, and, later, Geology. He was also invited to become an Officer in the CCF, specialising in Adventure Training, leading expeditions along the Pennine Way, the Western Highlands Way, the Pyrenees and the Italian Alps. From 1977-1991 he was Senior RE Master, and in that time developed new 'A'-level and 'AO' papers for the Oxford & Cambridge Examination Board. He was also given responsibility for the voluntary social works for the sixth form at weekends, visiting a Cheshire Home, a Hospital and helping elderly people.

In September 1980, Fr Timothy was appointed Housemaster of St John's House, a post he held for 17 years. In that time, he also held a number of other roles, including: Deputy Headmaster and Acting Head for a period of time; governor of Westminster Cathedral Choir School; Deputy Head of Development; and Appeal Director. In 1995, he even undertook a charity cycle ride from Land's End to John O'Groats!

March 1997 saw the election of Timothy Wright as seventh Abbot of Ampleforth, a post he held until 2005. His abbacy saw the flourishing of a Catholic-Shia Muslim dialogue, with the Abbey hosting a number of meeting with Catholic and Shia experts in theology and spirituality. Abbot Timothy subsequently worked as delegate for the Abbot Primate of the Benedictine Confederation in developing monastic inter-religious dialogue.

In September 2006, Abbot Timothy began work as a spiritual director at the Pontifical Beda College in Rome, combining his invaluable spiritual role with that of his work for the Abbot Primate, which saw him visiting Benedictine religious communities in India, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Indonesia, Algeria, Morocco, Ghana, Central Africa Republic, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Burundi, Tanzania, South Africa, Australia, Brazil, USA, Canada, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Poland, Holland, Israel, Egypt, Turkey, Syria, and Jordan. In 2012 he was also awarded a Doctorate by the University of Lampeter, for his thesis 'Using an expanded concept of 'Spiritual Memory' might it be possible to develop a new form of 'Benedictine' community dedicated to dialogue with Islam?', a work later published in book form under the title No Peace without Prayer.

In his early 70s, Abbot Timothy began a new phase of his monastic life by teaching at the Benedictine University, Lisle, Illinois, while living at St Procopius Monastery. He would still spend every Easter and Christmas with the Manquehue Apostolic Movement in Chile, and in 2016 began teaching at St Martin's University, Washington, Seattle, and developed on-line courses examining the Bible and the Qu'ran. In January 2017, Abbot Timothy was in Iran to attend the ceremony for the 25th World Award for Book of the Year of the Islamic Republic of Iran, at which he received a special award from the President of Iran for his contribution to the inter-religious dialogue between Catholics and Shi'a Muslims.

Towards the end of 2016, Abbot Timothy was diagnosed with cancer of the colon. He underwent surgery and chemotherapy, and was residing at Ealing Abbey in London, where he died on 13 May 2018.

Abbot Timothy's body will be received into the Abbey Church at Ampleforth on Tuesday 29 May 2018 at 6.00 p.m.. His funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11.30 a.m. in the Abbey Church on Wednesday 30 May, followed by burial in the Abbey vault.