Faces of Vancouver: Westminster Abbey in Mission

Westminster Abbey is a hilltop, Benedictine abbey located in suburban Mission. The abbey was designed by Norwegian architect Asbjorn Gathe and constructed in 1954. The abbey campus, with its 80 hectares of land, comprises a monastery, a seminary high school, a college of theology, a chapel, a guest house, and a large, working farm. The monks and seminary students follow the Benedictine tradition of living by the “fruit of one’s labour”. It is a pastoral way of life which aims to make the community as self-sufficient as possible.

The abbey’s chapel was added in 1982 and has come to be known as one of the most beautiful places of worship in Greater Vancouver.

This is an old-world monastery, complete with incense and the chanting of the Liturgy of the Hours at all the prescribed times of day. On average, about 30 monks live in this fully monastic community. The bell tower has a ring of 10 bells that sound across the Fraser Valley 15 minutes before each mass.

The motto of the Benedictines is Ora et Labora, or “Pray and Work”. According to the Benedictine code, “Then are they truly monks when they live by the labour of their hands, as did our fathers and the apostles.”

Sunday mass is at 10 a.m. Visitors are welcome to visit the chapel and to walk the grounds on Sundays between 2 and 4 p.m., and on weekdays between 1:30 and 4 p.m. People in shorts are not allowed into the chapel. Mission Abbey is about four kilometres from the eastern end of downtown Mission.

Douglas Aitken is the author of the book Three Faces of Vancouver. Every Monday, Faces of Vancouver looks at the area’s buildings, past and present, with a focus on Vancouver’s European, Asian, and First Nations cultures.