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The Revd Mark Laynesmith, Reading University:
LAST year I invited the Brighton bomber Patrick McGee and Jo Berry, the daughter of one of his victims, to discuss forgiveness on the campus. Gill Hicks, who lost both her legs in the 7/7 bombings and a former Muslim extremist were also invited to talk during The F Word – an exhibition showcasing forgiveness through photo journalism.
There are over 20,000 students at Reading now, and we try to put on a range of activities that will meet a whole spectrum of people wherever they are. A good example would be 'spirituality'. At one end of the spectrum we've just started running 'non-religious' quiet days for stressed post-grads at a local organic farm and garden. At the other we hold termly formal retreats at various monasteries for those who are sure of their faith. Even then we have people of other faiths and no faith joining us.
I’ve been at the chaplaincy for four years now, and was previously a curate in north Yorkshire. I came into the university by accident. I was looking for an appropriate job at the end of my curacy and a friend (in fact, my former university chaplain) mentioned the Reading job was going. I wasn't sure about it at the time but in hindsight it has proved to be perfect for me, bringing together my own interest in academia and my desire to do pastoral work.
I work in an ecumenical team of chaplains, but much of the time I'm working in partnership with a Roman Catholic colleague. Together we run a drop-in centre on campus. Our work tends to fall into four main areas: pastoral care of staff and students, teaching, spirituality and hospitality.
I'm team coordinator for the Chaplaincy, so that makes me first point of call in the University. But in fact the RC chaplain and I tend to work very closely together and we are good friends. Alongside the day-to-day care and support of people, there are the longer term issues of thinking about what future events we might do that would open doors for people into the world of faith, trying to find funding for them and then running them.
University chaplaincy can be at the very edge of the Church. That is both its gift and its curse. So, sharing ideas and experiences of the Christian faith with interested students and staff, at whatever level they wish to engage, is extremely rewarding.
One of my favourite activities over the last year has been our weekly informal lunchtime theology seminar. We've been throwing some bread, cheese and doughnuts on a table and exploring theology with a group of Christians, atheists, agnostics and pagans. Every week we wondered whether we’d get anyone and each week we’d have about a dozen people. It’s a huge privilege.
Being on the 'edge' can make chaplaincy a bit lonely, and sometimes our work is not entirely understood by the secular institution it exists in. Equally some Christians who are used only to one model of sharing faith can find what we do a bit puzzling.
Certain pastoral situations can also be very demanding, particularly the deaths of students.
Thankfully, those are very rare. More often there's just an enormous sense of privilege in accompanying individuals through a seminal stage in their life-development. Seeing an unconfident student, or someone struggling with an issue, emerge and flourish is wonderful to see, a real resurrection moment.
Carrie Franklin, Buckinghamshire New University:
I STUDIED at Buckinghamshire New University back in the 1970s, when it was High Wycombe College of Technology.
I moved away, never realising that I would one day return to work there. Now I am a member of a 12-strong team of chaplains who work to support students and staff.
We offer care and support, especially at times of loneliness, sickness and spiritual need and help them explore issues of faith and belief.
The chaplaincy aims to provide a more equitable and sustainable world within the university, giving regular opportunities for prayer and worship and providing a Christian presence and link for students of all faiths and none.
I am the only paid member of the team, and am employed for 20 hours per week and it is a challenge fitting all I need to do into that time.
I’ve helped build up the profile of the chaplaincy over the past three-and-a-half years and it is very rewarding to see it now becoming an integral part of the life of the university.
I’m the first point of contact for staff and students who are looking for chaplaincy services and responsible for all of the chaplaincy’s administration. Along with the Revd Dr Gwen Collins, I sit on the university’s Fairtrade Steering Group and International Student Support Group. One of our achievements was to help the university achieve Fairtrade status.
We have also just secured use of a room which will become a ‘quiet room’.
It has taken a while to secure this after we lost our chapel in the demolition works and new building of the university, so for me, this is great news.
The Revd Dr Jonathan Arnold, Oxford University's Worcester College:
Behind me are around a hundred new students waiting to begin their Oxford student careers. In a few moments I will have to stand up and talk to them and, although I think I am well prepared, now that it comes to it, what am I going to say? Luckily, I am not the first in line, so I observe how various other college officers (nurse, tutor for women, the dean, counsellor and so on) make their introductions.
To my relief, even these experienced campaigners seem to be as nervous as I feel. My turn comes after the college doctor who exhorts the freshers not to come running to surgery at the first sign of a sore throat and talks sensibly about contraception. Then it’s my turn. I decide to make a joke: ‘Regarding contraception, if it does go wrong, look on the bright side: I can always baptise your babies.’ I am encouraged by the laugh, but I am only half joking. Since my appointment as Chaplain, just one month before, I have received four enquiries from Worcester College couples wishing to get married. ‘So, although you are all new’ I continue, ‘take a good look around you. Statistically, there’s quite a good chance that love is in the air.’
Thus begins my first speech on my first proper day as Worcester College Chaplain and I have about as much idea what the next three years hold in store as those new undergraduates do about their time in Oxford. But as I introduce myself to these, as yet, anonymous people, I realise that I am explaining the role of Chaplain as much to myself as to them: my place in the college is unique in that I am not a fellow or member of the governing body, I do not have disciplinary power over anyone.
It’s all a very long way, although not geographically, from my parish training as curate in Chalgrove and Berrick Salome in Oxfordshire, although perhaps not too far removed from my background as a professional choral singer, academic church historian and clergy husband. I am in a place of academic excellence inhabited by people of all faiths and none, where the ancient statute requiring a Christian Chaplain is seen, by some, as anachronistic.
What I am most looking forward to is that privilege of being able to listen to people who need an ear and also having the sole responsibility for making sure the Chapel is a centre for prayer and worship. Now in my second term there have already been some great highlights to look back on: the vibrancy of student life and the enthusiasm these intelligent young people have for learning and the stimulating academic environment. One particular highlight has been the success of my lunchtime discussion group where views about God, ethics or just life, can be aired and ideas thrashed around without fear of undue judgement or ridicule.
There has been the joy of seeing the Chapel packed out for Sunday night services, including Freshers’ Evensong, the Remembrance Day Service and the Christmas services. I have also relished the chance to invite and meet interesting guest preachers and to learn about their lives and ideas over a wonderful dinner on high table; and, not least, the opportunity to pursue my own academic research, making the most that Oxford has to offer.
The Revd Jennifer Brown: Oxford University's Jesus College:
At the beginning of January, I moved from being a curate in an Oxford parish to being chaplain at Jesus College. Chaplaincy in an Oxford college is both like and unlike parish ministry. The most obvious way in which it resembles parish life is that the rhythm of the chaplain’s week is set by the chapel services that occur throughout the week − and, of course, there are plenty of committees and meetings. The way in which it differs most from parish ministry is that Christmas and Easter are holidays! Another key difference is the breadth of the college community and, within it, the chapel community. Christians of several different denominations and a variety of churchmanship are represented in the chapel, as are non-believers who are attracted by the music and/or the tradition of Choral Evensong (our main weekly service). Catering for and reaching out to such a diverse worshipping community is a challenge, but a stimulating one.
Pastoral care is, as I’ve found, a very important part of the chaplain’s role, and I am actively involved in the welfare provision of the college. Being a chaplain is also a very missional role, in that I am here to serve the college community in Christ’s name. Pastoral care and chapel services play a part in this, but it also encompasses such things as supporting and encouraging the choir and organ scholars (who aren’t necessarily Christians, despite the part they play in the chapel worship), being a provider of information, lending a hand with practical things and generally doing my best to make a positive contribution to the life of the college.
If I were asked what the best part of being a college chaplain is, I would have to say that it’s the people. As I’m new at this job, people do frequently ask me how I like it. I have just 3 words to answer them − I love it!
The Rev'd Dr Allan Doig: Fellow and Chaplain at Oxford University's Lady Margaret Hall
Each community is unique in its make-up, particular concerns and the focus of its activities. The shape of ministry varies accordingly. That is true of parishes, and equally true of Colleges. When parishes look for a new incumbent, they naturally look for someone whose ministry is the right sort of shape for the future into which they want to move. Colleges come in all shapes and sizes, and so do chaplains.
Lady Margaret Hall was founded as the first women’s college in Oxford in 1878 and voted to admit men a century later in 1978. It has had a pretty even gender balance amongst Undergraduates, Graduates and Fellows over the past two decades, that is at least since I have been Chaplain. My duties are anchored in Chapel worship, with sung services on Sundays supported by the two Organ Scholars, four Choral Scholars and large Choir.
There is continuing prayer with and for the community during the daily Offices and mid-week Communion. I am also responsible for the pastoral care of the whole community and, as for a parish priest, that care extends to all its members regardless of religious affiliation – and that is the most positive aspect of the Church’s establishment. To be involved in as many corners of the College possible, I also function as a Tutor (to the Fine Artists, since I was a Lecturer in the History of Art), I am Tutor for Graduates (since I know what it is like to be a graduate in a variety of universities and countries), I continue research and writing, and I am a member of more committees (in College, the Diocese, Charities and the wider Church) than I ever thought possible. That also includes the Buildings Committee planning new Undergraduate and Graduate buildings and a new front quad! Size and shape and building for the future are being very consciously planned in LMH, and I have been very privileged to be called to be part of that.
Revd. Carla A. Grosch-Miller, Chaplain to Reformed students in Oxford
Carla is the minister of St. Columba’s, Oxford United Reformed Church, which was founded as a chaplaincy to Reformed students in 1908 but rapidly became a gathered church. The chaplaincy was founded in order to meet the spiritual needs of students from the historic Dissenting Churches, primarily Presbyterian and Independent (Congregational) churches, now the United Reformed Church.
Carla came to St Columba’s and the chaplaincy from Somerset and Salisbury, where she was on the staff of the Salisbury Theological Education and Training Scheme. She was ordained in the United Church of Christ (US) in 1992 after a short career as a civil rights attorney.
She has a passion for justice and compassion for the created order; you could say she’s an eco-feminist practical theologian. Her area of developing expertise is sexual ethics, and she has spent many years working in the field of racial justice. St Columba’s has a ministry with Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Trangendered people, so she is right at home. Carla is married to David, who is Moderator of the South Western Synod of the United Reformed Church. They share three children and two manses and not enough time together.
Revd Dr Shaun C. Henson Chaplain at Oxford University St. Hugh’s College
I came to Oxford from graduate study in America, continuing here a line of research uncommon at that time: I was the first doctoral student to work with Oxford’s initial Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion, John Hedley Brooke. Philosopher Keith Ward was my co-supervisor. Following completion of my DPhil, an Oxford College Chaplaincy was a natural outgrowth of my love for priestly duties and academic environments.
Before ordination in the Oxford Diocese, I had been in ministry for a decade or so, establishing a new church among the urban poor in Boston, New England. After a curacy in the Benefice of Blenheim just outside Oxford, coming back as Chaplain to St. Hugh’s, and to the Faculty of Theology where I am doing post-doctoral research and beginning to teach, has made perfect sense. St. Hugh’s has one of the half-time chaplaincies. So there is time both to be a faithful Chaplain with integrity, and to pursue this additional academic sense of priestly vocation. The Benefice of Blenheim continues to house me at present in exchange for limited duties there.
At St. Hugh’s I have the usual Chaplaincy responsibilities. There is general oversight of the religious life of the College including all services in Chapel, and supervision of the Choir, with the Organ and Choral Scholars. I am also on the College welfare team, serving as one among several to whom students and staff can go with problems. Just this week I was able to help a very upset student in what they said later was a significant way. That is always deeply satisfying.
Overall, I have been struck both by how unusual College Chaplaincies and by what incredible opportunities they are for the Church at large. In an increasingly secular and diverse culture, that Colleges still sponsor their own priests is amazing and sometimes awkward — not least for the chaplain. We are on the ‘front lines’ between the Church and an occasionally bewildered or antagonistic secular public.
But I believe the Chaplaincies—in some sense a holdover from Medieval England—remain intact, in the providence of God, for their continued vital influence. Over the past several terms I have seen resolute atheists come to some level of faith and to regular involvement in Chapel. In one sense the Church necessarily ‘exists by mission, as a fire exists by burning’ (to quote theologian Emil Brunner). So the Chaplaincies exist partly for the ongoing health and life of the Church. We serve the Christian communities in our colleges, and we help to bear witness to those outside the Church, all in the same role. Thank God for such a challenging and rewarding opportunity.
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