By Fr Philip Miller
Newman House, the Catholic Chaplaincy centre for students and staff of the Universities and Colleges of Higher Education in Westminster diocese, played host to a gathering of chaplains on 2nd May.
Our Catholic chaplains invited their various ecumenical and interfaith colleagues from the universities to the morning-to-lunch-time event for an opportunity to socialize, exchange ideas, and discuss our work.
On one level this new initiative was simply to show hospitality and courtesy to our many co-chaplains across the universities. It was also an opportunity to introduce them to Newman House, our Chaplaincy hub, for many of whom this would have been their first visit.
The centrepiece of our meeting, providing some ‘meat for discussion,’ was an address by Dom Christopher Jamison OSB, Abbot President of the English Benedictine Congregation. His latest book, Finding the Language of Grace — Rediscovering Transcendence (2022), gave him a starting point to address issues of disconnection and mistrust that abound in contemporary society and which are often manifest in the current student population to whom university chaplains minister.
With examples from across literature and the Christian tradition, Abbot Christopher helped us to reflect on the need for a language that provides a chance to talk about the transcendent with our contemporaries, many of whom may never have inherited a vocabulary that can describe their spiritual feelings or fears.
Our subsequent, wide-ranging, discussion was very much welcomed by many of the attendees, charged as we are with a spiritual accompaniment across different faith traditions. In common, we have the privileged task of witnessing to the divine, and helping our students to encounter it. It was good to acknowledge the deep need to find a language of wisdom that enables access to the things of God for the university students whose lives and experiences we are happily a part of.
We pray that this initiative may be the start of some regular contact between us, and provide a valuable forum for sharing, in the words of Abbot Christopher, a ‘graceful / grace-filled language.’
To find out more about Newman House and the wider Catholic Chaplaincy serving students in Westminster Diocese, visit: www.universitycatholic.net
