Британдық Колумбиядағы Бенедикттік монахтар қауымдастығы

Community of Benedictine monks in British Columbia, Canada

Westminster Abbey is a community of Benedictine monks in Mission, British Columbia, established in 1939 from the Abbey of Mount Angel, Oregon. The abbey is home to the Seminary of Christ the King and is a member of the Swiss American Congregation within the Benedictine Confederation. The abbey's official name is the Abbey of Saint Joseph of Westminster; Saint Joseph is the abbey's patron saint. The abbey was designed by the firm of Gardiner, Thornton, Gathe and Associates.

The seminary was founded in 1931 by Archbishop William Mark Duke of the Archdiocese of Vancouver. Five monks, including Father Eugene Medved, later Prior and Abbot, were sent from Mount Angel Abbey, Oregon, to British Columbia in 1939 to found a priory and to take over the running of the Seminary of Christ the King, which was then located in Ladner, B. C. In 1951 the Seminary opened the Faculty of Theology. In 1966, through its own University Charter, the Seminary was empowered to grant the Bachelor of Arts degree as well as degrees in Theology. The students are taught by the monks, as well by many volunteer teachers. The Major seminarians are also taught by local diocesan priests. In 1973 74 a large athletic field was constructed with the aid of a Canadian Forces field unit; in 1977 the gymnasium auditorium was completed.

Father Dunstan Massey was the abbey's resident artist. He has painted several frescoes around the abbey, and he has also created a series of concrete bas reliefs affixed to pillars inside the church.

The abbey's farm is worked by the monks. It houses up to 40 cattle, raised for their meat. There are also chickens, whose eggs and meat are eaten. Most of the meat eaten at the abbey comes from the farm. The abbey, including the farm and woods, covers over 70 hectares of land.