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On June 24, the Montserrat compound was reopened , which had been closed to the public since the promulgation of the state of alarm. Montserrat is not limited to the sanctuary . For years it has become a theme park ; a network of shops, hotels and bars that, together with the museum and its mountainous and rugged nature, have favored tourism, not necessarily religious.
But all this shed is not subcontracted to companies or individuals, but is directly exploited by the Abbey, owner of a company called La Agrícola Regional SA, which has no less than 300 employees, 215 in said merchant company and another 85 who correspond to the Monastery. When all the activity was closed, an ERTE was presented by the company, which affected all the workers of La Agrícola Regional and 85% of the abbey. Three long months with hotels, cells or apartments, bars, restaurants and shops closed . And with an unflattering future: no messengers of tourists who board daily by coach and with few pilgrims and hikers.
But ruin is not only material, it is also spiritual. And this is not because of the pandemic. Last 2019 there was a truly unprecedented event in the history of the Montserrat monastery: the number of members of the escolanía exceeded the number of Benedictine friars for the first time. 50 boys in the choir compared to 42 monks in the monastery.
In the 1950s the monastery had reached its highest figures: 150 religious. He never got them again, but they were maintained, around the 120s, until the 80s, beginning a slow decline during the end of the 20th century. When Father Josep María Soler was elected abbot in 2000, there were 90 Benedictines from Montserrat. After 20 years of their election, the members of the monastery have been reduced by more than half. 42 monks in 2020. With an alarming decline : in the last three years there has only been one solemn profession, a 57-year-old adult vocation that does not come to rejuvenate a community with an average age of over 70 years . In the last four years there have been 10 deaths from two temporary professions and one solemn one. Currently there is only one novice.
The renewal generational absent . That which Montserrat was always the most important abbey of the Spanish Benedictine communities. With great difference from the others. Currently it is about to be overtaken by that of Santo Domingo de Silos, whose number of friars is around forty and by the Abbey of Valle de los Caídos, with 22 monks. Only so far this year, there have been three habit takings in the Valley and a solemn profession. The Valley is on the rise and Montserrat on the down.
This hecatomb has been aggravated by two factors. One, the cases of pedophilia that were settled with the report of a commission constituted as a result of Miguel Hurtado's complaint regarding the sexual abuse committed by brother Andreu Soler. A report that concluded that the monk had been "a true sexual predator". Sexual predator of minors. And inside the Sanctuary.
But Brother Andreu Soler had already passed away in 2008. Regarding the cover-ups, not a word was said. And that is unquestionably proven that, in 2003, the abbot bought the victim's will and gave him 8,600 euros. 7,200 for the youth and 1,400 for his lawyer; money that was given to him in cash and so that there was no trace, they sent it to him three times, in bills of 500. And in 2015, the complainant personally announced to the abbot that he was going to report the case and returned the money . The interview between the complainant and the abbot was recorded and the latter admitted that he had suspected Monk Soler since the 1970s, which he had brought to his predecessor's knowledge, without ever taking any action.
Monks with Catalan roots
The second factor is the alignment of the monastery with the independence process. Known are the prayers in favor of prisoners, the manifestations of monks in habit and banners, the use of the basilica for prayers presided over by Torra, but few know that of those 42 monks there is not one who does not have Catalan roots.
According to the Institut d'Estadística de Catalunya (IDESCAT) the eight most frequent surnames in the population of Catalonia are García, Martínez, López, Sánchez, Rodríguez, Fernández, Pérez and González. Among those 42 there is only one Martinez. Brother Andreu María Martínez Motos, who was born in Cazorla, Jaén, although they took good care, when collecting their biographical data, to point out that since childhood they lived in the town of La Senia, province of Tarragona.
As for his birthplace, apart from the father Hilari Raguer who was accidentally born in Madrid, there are only two Majorcans, one from Valencia and two from the Aragonese fringe. Absolute reflection of the Catalan Countries . It is not a faithful sampling of Catalan society. The only certainty is that the monks represent an ethnic community, in which practically no Charnegos fit. An ethnicity avant la lettre of the two communities that are already looming in Catalonia. Hence the vocational collapse.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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