The Catholic church in Britain is attempting to lure would-be monks and nuns into the monastic life with "taster" weekends in the cloisters, the BBC reported Saturday.
The move is a bid to reverse the sharp decline in those taking up religious orders. Visitors will take meals in silence, and pray five times a day at the free weekends being hosted by a Benedictine monastery in the southern county of West Sussex, dpa reported.
Graduate Ric Slatter, who has signed up for a series of weekends, said: "It's far easier to come on this try-before-you-buy, no- strings-attached event, than to knock on the doors of a monastery and say 'I think I might want to join'."