New Beginnings

As we approach the beginning of a new academic year, the Catholic Chaplaincy would like to wish Sr Maria Juan and Amber all the best as they begin a new stage in their lives. They have been so much the heart of the Catholic Chaplaincy and will be greatly missed.

Amber & Sr Maria Juan

Sr Maria Juan was that joyful Sister who breezed around the University, speaking to everyone and anyone. She had the most amazing gift of picking people up when they were down and getting things moving. She was always full of enthusiasm, joy and laughter - and was the most wonderful presence. 

Amber has been studying Linguistics at the University as a postgrad, and took over from Sam as our Catholic Chaplaincy Intern. She made hospitality her gift, and ensured that the Catholic Flat was always the most welcoming place for all students. Amber was baptised and received into the Catholic Church just after Easter on a day of great joy.

Amber on the day of her Baptism.

Sr Maria Juan, who is part of the Sisters of Mercy Alma Province, is due to begin her studies in Philosophy at the Catholic University of America at Washington DC, and Amber has now returned to South Korea. We wish them both all our love and prayers.

Whilst it is good bye to Sr Maria Juan and to Amber, it is a joy to introduce Adhy as the new Catholic Chaplaincy Intern. Adhy is a postgraduate student, studying Film Studies, and he comes from Indonesia where his family still live. Many of you will know him from previous years. His greatest challenge will be to keep Amber's botanical garden alive in the Flat!

Adhy

March for Life Event

A group departed from Lancaster early on Saturday 14th May for the March for Life in Birmingham.

When we arrived at Victoria Square, Birmingham, several thousand supporters had already gathered from all over the country to hear speeches from pro-life campaigners and for the march itself.

Auxiliary Bishop of Birmingham, Bishop David McGough welcomed us, followed by Bishop Emmanuel Badejo from Nigeria who reminded us in a gentle way of the vast differences between our own abortion culture and that found in Nigeria.

The march itself was the highlight of the day with a huge number of supporters joining us through the centre of Birmingham, raising awareness among those who happened to be passing and showing clearly our stance on this most important issue.

Just before the march, one of the speakers recounted how last year she had seen this march and had cancelled her abortion as a result, saying 'thank you' to all those present last year for saving her child. During the march itself her comments helped us to see how our work was helping people to achieve happiness and really gave the event a special feeling.

After the march we joined Bishop Patrick McKinney from Nottingham in a time of silent prayer, a very powerful moment as the huge crowd fell silent and peace descended over Victoria Square.

It was a long day but well worth it, so thank you to the organisers for all your hard work.

Happiness is not an App

Recently Pope Francis met up with young people in St Peter's Square and shared with them his thoughts on happiness. 'Happiness has no price', he said. 'It cannot be bought: it is not an app that you can download on your phones nor will the latest update bring you freedom and grandeur in love. True freedom is something else altogether... Don't believe those who would distract you from the real treasure, which you are, by telling you that life is beautiful only if you have this or that, these possessions, this fashion, and behave in this way or that'. No, he said, true freedom and true love, are the drawn from following Christ, 'for his words are a school of life'.

Paschal Joy

On Sunday 24 April, the Catholic Chaplaincy celebrated with great joy the Baptism of one student, the Confirmation of five students, and the First Holy Communion of three of those. 

The chapel was beautiful, with flowers, the paschal candle, the font, all ready.

Fr Philip preached on the difference that the Resurrection makes to our lives, and exhorted us to participate in the Risen Light and to become saints of the new millennium.

Each of those being confirmed took on a new name, inspired by their favourite saints.

Baptism: The moment when Amber became a child of God and a member of the Church.

Receiving the Light of Christ. 

The five students for Confirmation were called forward with their sponsors. Leaving the darkness, they desire to open their hearts to the Light.

Receive the Holy Spirit. Each of those being confirmed is anointed with Holy Chrism, oil blessed by the Bishop, liquid Holy Spirit.

This is my Body given for you. Three of the students receive their First Holy Communion.

And so the new life begins...

The students threw a wonderful party.

Lots of smiles!

Amber with Our Lady

The readings at Mass on this day spoke of the 'new creation', and so it has begun.

Mission in Mercy

Even today, several centuries after his death, St Francis continues to be esteemed by people of all backgrounds, religions and nationalities. Most recently Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio took on his name when he became Pope Francis and named his latest encyclical, Laudati Si, after the saint's canticle on creation. Pope Leo XIII exclaimed, "St. Francis of Assisi was called to reform the Church not in a way other saints have done, nor only for his own time, but for all time to come. Whenever society strays from the right path no other remedy is needed but to revive the spirit of the order founded by St. Francis." We were delighted last week to welcome Fr Gabriel whose new religious order, the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, seeks to revive that spirit, sometimes in the most surprising ways!

We were delighted to welcome too Claire (centre, former student of the University) who now works for the Life Charity, another work of mercy for our times.

What is it about this saint which is different from other's? What is it about this man who found the grace to kiss the leper, the man to whom he felt such repugnance? If St Francis is significant for our age, our speaker argued, it's only because Christ speaks to hearts in every age.  St Francis's only desire was to live the Gospel with simplicity. In doing so, he was drawn out of himself, out of his own sense of self-importance, his own self-preoccupation, his own ego - to encounter the 'other', and in the 'other' he discovered Christ, often in the distressing disguise of the poorest of the poor.

Jesus healing the paralysed man. Mosaic from the Rosary Basilica in Lourdes

St Francis didn't make a stand against the Church on account of its wealth at the time. There were many groups at the time that railed against the corruption of the Church. But for Francis, he chose to be poor because Christ was poor. Francis did not fall in love with the virtue of poverty but with Christ. And he loved the Church, even with all its failings. Indeed, he sought the blessing of the Church for his work. He understood that true renewal of the Church only comes through holiness. Saints renew the Church. When Jesus renews the heart, it is startling what Jesus does.

In the twenty-first century it is striking how as much as the culture has tried to emancipate man, human dignity has been trampled upon egregiously. Do people know any longer what they are made for? With everything that we can do, do we know what the future holds? Do we know who we are? St Francis knew who he was in Christ.

'By his wounds we are healed'. The Risen Lord with whom St Francis united his life.

Finally, our speaker, who has spent so much time in the ghettos of New York and is now servant of the community in Bradford, argued that God does not need a pristine world for the Gospel to thrive, He does not need a perfect world for salvation to break through. He is happy to come into the mess as he did in the stable, to be close to the poor, next to the marginalised, and to begin to restore peace from there. Mercy, then, is the doorway to the renewal of the Church. Our present Pope understands this well, describing the Church as a 'field hospital'. How, then, do we put this into practice? It begins with prayer. Is Jesus real to me, is he alive? Or is he an idea, a concept, a lesson. If he is only this, where will any of us get the strength to go forth and to kiss the leper, to find sweetness in what is repugnant?

Revolution of Mercy

On Wednesday we had our penultimate public lecture. It was given by Jan Graffius, the Curator of Collections at Stonyhurst College and explored the witness of Blessed Oscar Romero of El Salvador. Archbishop Romero was executed as he celebrated Mass in 1980 on account of his courage in challenging the death squads and corruption of the time. Jan Graffius was charged with the task of preserving Archbishop's Romero's belongings and creating display cases for his relics.

Jan Graffius, with Sr Maria Juan

Just last year, Archbishop Romero was beatified. It is well worth reading Pope Francis's letter on the occasion. El Salvador in the 1980s was a small, forgotten place, a place where savage evil was unleashed. But it is in such times that great holiness is also born. The whole country was run by a narrow oligarchy of families who amassed political, military, economic, religious and social control. Jan argued that poverty doesn't just happen; it comes about through human acts of omission and commission, and it is intensified by ignorance and the failure to consider the common good. During the bloody civil war, 75,000 people died, many killed in the welter of lawlessness that engulfed the country, a country overrun with drug cartels and death squads. The murder of a fellow priest had a revolutionary effect upon Archbishop Romero's heart; his witness became a Gethsemane moment for Romero. He knew he was called to be the good shepherd, laying down his life for his flock, identifying with them and suffering for them. On the radio, he railed against the 'empire of hell' and began his how journey to Golgotha.

We were delighted to welcome CAFOD who set up a stall with information on Romero.

Jan brought with her a triptych containing a relic of Blessed Romero. Apart from the beauty of the artistry, the script on the triptych records the readings of the day and his homily at the Mass at which he was executed. The words are prophetic. As the Archbishop offered the bread and wine, a sniper appeared at the back of the chapel. Romero saw the sniper, paused, and was killed. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.

The triptych with relic at the bottom.

Extracts from the Readings of the Day of Romero's execution.

Extracts from Archbishop Romero's homily, given moments before he was shot.

Blessed are the Merciful

For the Year of Mercy, the Catholic Chaplaincy have been hosting a series of public lectures. We kicked off with an inspiring talk by Magnus MacFarlane Barrow, founder of Mary's Meals. Mary's Meals is currently educating and feeding over 1 million children in twelve countries, and will not stop until it has fed the 59 million more children who remain hungry in our world. The story of the charity can found in the Child 31 documentary on Youtube. Magnus's amazing work has won him acolades from around the world; last year he was counted in the Top 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine. His book, The Shed that Fed a Million, reached the UK's prestigious Times and Sunday Times bestseller list immediately after its release. In his talk, Magnus traced the journey of Mary's Meals from its humble beginnings and helped us to understand how little steps can accomplish great things. Mercy is not a theory, but something that can be lived out by everyone in little ways. Magnus spoke with great passion, incredible humility and joy at the great things that the Lord has done in his life.

Magnus, delivering his talk, not a note in his hand!

Following on from Magnus, we were delighted to be able to welcome Lord David Alton, an Independent Cross-Bench Peer, Professor of Citizenship, and a long-time human rights campaigner.

Over a meal, Lord Alton shared with the students experiences from his visits to Burma, North Korea and Pakistan. 

No leftovers for Bosco on this occasion!

Lord Alton's lecture packed a punch as he explored how mercy can be translated into public policy. He was struck by Pope Francis's call to touch the flesh of those who are suffering, and he highlighted three areas in the current climate: the outcast, those who are discarded by society, 'thrown out', the 8 million children who have been aborted in this country since 1967 and the relentless call for euthanasia and eugenics; the Refugees fleeing violence, sectarianism, poverty and despair; and, the persecuted, in particular citing the genocide of Christians and other minority groups in Syria and Iraq. Lord Alton, in response to these challenges, spoke about the need to uphold the rule of law, particularly the Declaration of Human Rights, article 18 on the freedom of religion, and he observed that many politicians seem more motivated by commercial interests than gross human rights violations. Mercy and justice will not come about by magic, but by a serious choice. In the chapel dedicated to St Thomas More, it was inspiring to hear a statesman speaking in these terms, upholding principle over what is expedient.

Lord Alton with some of the students

Jubilee Year of Mercy

The Name of God is Mercy is Pope Francis’s first book-length conversation with Italian journalist, Andrea Tornielli. At its launch, Oscar-winning actor and director, Roberto Benigni, praised the Pope for ‘dragging the whole Church towards Christianity. In such an unrecognisable world, that wants hatred and condemnation, Francis responds with mercy’.

The Latin word for mercy is ‘misericordia’, which comprises two words, ‘miseria’ which means misery, wretchedness, and ‘cor’ which means heart. Mercy, then, is the encounter between God’s heart and our human misery. God taking on our flesh is the ultimate act of mercy – when Jesus Christ stooped down to us – when God took a human heart to Himself so as to enter and share our misery – and in His mercy to love us in a way that saves us from our wretchedness. Mercy is that heart-felt instinct, that openness to be moved in the depths. It is to bend, to reach out, towards the pain and suffering of another – indeed, it’s a willingness to enter their chaos.

The Name of God is Mercy. Mercy is not a new invention, but who God is. From the beginning, when creation was a formless void – chaos – God entered and spoke a good, creative Word, a Word of Mercy. When the Hebrew people were enslaved in Egypt, the Lord led them out of their misery and revealed Himself to Moses as ‘The Lord, God of compassion and mercy, slow to anger, and abounding in love’. The word, ‘compassion’ in the Hebrew language denotes the depths of a person, the pit of their being, it’s something visceral. God loves us literally in a heart-wrenching, visceral way.

What God felt for His People is felt personally with the coming of Christ. Whether it is Jesus’s response to the blind man, the leper, the woman caught in adultery, the widow of Nain, Jesus’s response is Mercy. Does that make God a pushover? Does that mean that we can do anything and everything and for it not to matter because God will forgive us anyway? Not at all. One biblical scholar has reminded us, ‘that God’s mercy makes the highest possible demands of us, for we are created in order to radiate God’s image and likeness’. Once mercy has been tasted, our life can never be the same again. Think of the woman who wept over Jesus’s feet and wiped them with her hair. Jesus defended her by saying, ‘See this woman, because she has sinned much she can love much’. Jesus is not inviting us to sin more in order to experience His love, but to recognise the truth that we are all sinners, and, as such, now is the moment of grace, the moment of mercy, to bare the truth of who we are to the truth of who God is. In that encounter is Mercy Himself.