Could you fill the vacancy at Westvleteren Abbey?
The Saint Sixtus Abbey in Westvleteren (Vleteren – West Flanders) is looking to hire a new director to manage the monks’ business affairs. It’s the first time the job is being entrusted to an outsider. The new director will manage the Trappist brewery as well as the monks’ real estate.
Monks are getting older and their number has been falling for years now. Till now the abbot managed the abbey’s financial affairs together with the friars, but for a first time a lay person will be recruited to this important post.
The new director will be responsible for the daily running of the abbey as well as its financial interests, the budget, financial management, products, services and properties.
He or she will still have to account to the abbot. The post is quite separate from the monks’ religious experience but the abbey’s ad says it’s important the new director’s personal convictions should agree with the monastic context and the Christian values in which the new director will operate.