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The Othona Community was founded in 1946 by Norman Motley it is a network of people across the United Kingdom and around the world and is an open Christian Community, whose purpose is to provide, mainly through its two centres in Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex, United Kingdom and Burton Bradstock, Dorset, United Kingdom a welcoming , accepting place with a pattern of work, worship, study and play where people of different beliefs, cultures, classes, abilities, and ages can discover how to live together, learn from each other, explore together the relationship between faith and life with a view to more positive action in the world, and encourage one another in caring for the world and its people.
We are an open Christian Community, welcoming and involving people of all faiths and none. We offer individuals, families and groups the chance to slow down. To get to know themselves and each other in beautiful, peaceful surroundings with wonderful walks and beaches nearby.
The Othona Community is a sense of community. All who come to the centres are part of the community, sharing meals, jobs and jokes, and contributing talents and ideas.
The key word is acceptance.
The Othona Community is an approach to spirituality. The great, intimate mystery we call God surely goes beyond dogma. We all learn from each other, and, without pressure to conform in religious terms, may experience the fellowship of the spirit in everyday life.
The Othona Community was founded in 1946 to provide space to explore peace and reconciliation after the Second World War. We still try to face the challenges of our [[time], spiritual, social and ecological.
[edit] History
The Othona Community had its origin in the work of Norman Motley as an RAF chaplain in the Second World War. He started what became known as the 'Nails Movement', which offered people a chance to debate issues arising from their wartime experience.
When the war ended, a need was felt to continue the discussions, and the Community started at Bradwell-on-Sea in 1946, in a ramshackle collection of tents and ex-army huts. It offered a summer holiday with a difference a meeting place for people of a variety of backgrounds, beliefs, ages and nationalities, discussing questions of peace and reconciliation in the post-war era.
Why 'Othona?' The Community was established at the site of a fort built by the Romans on the Essex coast which they called 'Othona'. In AD 654 the Celtic Bishop, Cedd, came from Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, in Northumberland, to bring Christianity to the East Saxons. He used the brick and stone from the fort to built his church, now known as St Peter-on-the-Wall.
It was this isolated chapel which Norman Motley discovered soon after the end of the war. He was fired by the vision of a new type of community centre one which people could use for a week or more at a time, to meet together for personal discovery and renewal. He had sought a place rich in Christian history, but free of the quarrels, trivialities and divisions which hinder so much of the life of the church. As he said at the time, "the moment I entered St. Peter's I knew we were home."
So Norman and his companions took the name 'Othona' and established their community close to the chapel. Since then thousands of people have experienced that same sense of homecoming, and the Community still uses the chapel on a daily basis to share worship and spiritual experience.
In 1965 a second centre was opened at Burton Bradstock on the Dorset coast. The site consisted of a large, stone- built house with a beautiful chapel attached, and had been the home of the Christian Contemplative Charity. This was a group of women who lived there together and, led by their foundress, Adela Curtis, devoted themselves to prayer and self-sufficiency. Facilities were primitive, with no gas, electricity or even running water, but members of The Othona Community experienced the same sense of homecoming they had felt at Bradwell-on-Sea.
Over the years both centres have been brought up to date, with facilities installed for people with disabilities, and the usual mod cons for all, but attempts have been made to preserve the simplicity of both places. The Othona Community has flourished. It retains its Christian roots, but continues to be open for [people]] of all faiths and traditions to share their experiences and concerns and carry on the work of healing, renewal and reconciliation.
[edit] References
(1) http://www.places-to-be.com/index.php?eight=bbothona&gen=neu&loc=wsw&mpd=off (2) http://www.diggersanddreamers.org.uk/index.php?fld=initial&val=B&one=dat&two=det&sel=burtoth (3) http://thegoodretreatguide.com/retreats/OrthonaCommunity/OthonaCommunity.htm (4) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/europe/uk/738285/You-can't-beat-a-religious-retreat.html?pageNum=3
