One of Britain’s most successful Catholic university chaplaincies is on the brink of collapse. The chaplaincy at the University of Kent in Canterbury has been run for 22 years by Fr Peter Geldard, during which it has received more than 130 converts, confirmed many more in the faith and produced numerous vocations. However, when Fr Geldard retires later this year, it could in effect cease to exist.
Fr Geldard and his former students lay the blame squarely at the door of the Archdiocese of Southwark.
Former students talk highly of the chaplaincy. As well as providing the usual social activities, it organised regular pilgrimages and had more than 200 students attending Mass each week. It gave Catholics a home in an otherwise ultra-secular institution.
“The University of Kent Catholic Society is easily the most vibrant Catholic society I have ever seen,” says Patrick Cusworth, a former student. “It attracted hundreds of new students, including those who had never thought about becoming Catholic, every year.
“I consider the continued practice of my faith a direct result of the time spent regularly attending the University Catholic Society, hearing the various speakers, and talking, challenging, and occasionally being challenged by, Fr Peter Geldard.”
Gill Ryder, another former student, was attracted to Catholicism thanks to the chaplaincy. “I remember going to the freshers’ Christian event and, although I was a Baptist, as I looked at the stands I could see God clearly working in the CathSoc one. I cannot put into words how much spiritually, emotionally and mentally CathSoc was there for us.”
But in 2014, disaster struck. A fire destroyed much of St John Stone House, the chaplaincy building, leaving it uninhabitable. Fr Geldard says he repeatedly advised the diocese to revalue the building for insurance purposes before the fire, but it did not act.
This marked the start of a series of catastrophes.
The diocese hired a contractor to rebuild St John Stone House, but the company went bankrupt, seriously delaying the project.
In the meantime, the chaplaincy had found a new home in a local Franciscan centre. That same year, however, the Franciscans left Canterbury and the centre closed, leaving the chaplaincy homeless for the second time in two years. It now has to use the university’s small ecumenical chapel for Mass, although it still manages to attract large crowds.
Fr Geldard says that while all this was happening he heard little from the diocese – an accusation the diocese contests.
Then, just when it looked like the new St John Stone House was nearing completion, he was given grim news. At a meeting with Archbishop Peter Smith and Auxiliary Bishop Paul Mason on Ash Wednesday, he was told that, due to delays and rising costs, the project was no longer viable. The diocese would therefore halt all further work on the house and sell the site.
Although “dumbfounded” by the decision, Fr Geldard felt he had no choice but to accept it and consider a new property suggested by the diocese.
After looking at the property, he was then informed that the diocese did not have the money to purchase it anyway. Fr Geldard says the chances of finding a suitable property in the right location are now next to zero.
Finally, the diocese told Fr Geldard that, owing to a shortage of priests, he would probably not be replaced when he retires later this year. But the diocese told the Herald this week that it values the work of the chaplaincy and hopes to appoint a successor. Yet there remains a possibility that the university will soon have no Catholic chaplain at all.
Former students have launched a last-minute appeal, begging the diocese to reconsider the sale of St John Stone House, but the future remains uncertain.
Damian Thompson, the Herald’s editor-in-chief, first knew Fr Geldard when the latter was a married Anglican vicar and influential chairman of the Catholic Group in the Church of England’s General Synod.
“Fr Geldard was the very first senior Anglican to announce his impending conversion on the day after the vote to ordain women priests,” he says. “It was a typically brave and forthright move and I wasn’t surprised to learn of his outstanding success as a university chaplain. Nor, alas, am I surprised that he has been treated so shabbily by diocesan bureaucrats. But nothing can alter the fact that so many Catholics have found their faith as a result of his ministry.”
Key player
Fr Peter Geldard was one of the first Church of England vicars to convert to Catholicism after the vote to ordain women priests in 1992. With the help of Cardinal Hume, he was ordained as a Catholic priest. He was instrumental in helping other former Anglican clergy to become Catholics. He was appointed chaplain to the University of Kent in Canterbury in 1996.
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