Scottish police are searching for New Zealand-accented monk Justin Evans, who went missing from a remote monastery. Photo / Scotland Police
Scottish police are searching for New Zealand-accented monk Justin Evans, who went missing from a remote monastery. Photo / Scotland Police
Extensive searches are underway for a missing monk with a New Zealand accent after he disappeared from a remote monastery.
Justin Evans, 24, was last seen at the Golgotha Monastery on the island of Papa Stronsay in Orkney before midnight on April 11.
The missing man is from Christchurch,where he grew up and attended local schools.
A statement from Scotland Police said Evans, who speaks with a New Zealand accent, was described as being around 6ft (1.82m) tall, with short hair and a dark beard.
Justin Evans was last seen in a white robe at Golgotha Monastery before disappearing. Photo / Insula Papey Minor
Photos posted to the monastery’s Facebook page have offered a glimpse into Evans’ monastic lifestyle.
Called Insula Papey Minor (the island’s Latinised name), the channel documents life for its resident congregation, which family and friends can follow online from afar.
Evans was most recently pictured reading scripture during a service marking the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, known colloquially as Candlemas, at the beginning of February.
He also partook in a traditional blessing ceremony during the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6, with footage seen by the Herald capturing the New Zealander singing and waving a bell in unison with fellow monks.
Golgotha Monastery was established by the traditionalist Catholic order Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer.
The order, which was founded in the late 1980s, has New Zealand links.
Recently its members were told to leave the Diocese of Christchurch in July 2024, following an investigation at the Vatican’s request, according to the Catholic Herald.
The Press reported in 2023 that the investigation concerned alleged abuse and unauthorised exorcisms.
The order appealed the ban, but in August last year Bishop Michael Gielen of the Diocese of Christchurch said it had been rejected, the Catholic Herald reported.
The order, also known as Transalpine Redemptorists, was founded to maintain the practice of celebrating the liturgy in Latin at a time when the Roman Catholic Church was encouraging priests to use local languages, the BBC reported.
A group of the order’s monks banded together to purchase Papa Stronsay after its founder, Father Michael Mary, and some of the priests and brothers visited Orkney on holiday, according to the outlet.
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