Bishop Ambrose Griffiths Osb 1928-2011 Fr Dominic Milroy Osb
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BISHOP AMBROSE GRIFFITHS OSB 1928-2011 FR DOMINIC MILROY OSB Michael Ambrose Griffiths born London 4 December 1928; educated Ampleforth (St Aidan’s House); Balliol College, Oxford, Chemistry 1 MA BSC; clothed 24 September 1950; 1953-56 Sant’ Anselmo, Rome, Theology; ordained 21 July 1957; April 1963 Professor Dogmatic Theology; 1967 Senior Science Master; 1968 Junior Master; January 1972 Procurator; 7 April 1976 elected 5th Abbot of Ampleforth; 1984 Titular Abbot of Westminster; 1984 Parish Priest St Mary’s, Leyland; 20 March 1992 ordained Bishop of Hexham & Newcastle; 25 May 2004 retired as Diocesan Bishop; 2004 Assistant Priest at St. Mary’s Leyland; died at Leyland 14 June 2011. Bishop Ambrose is pictured below in an unusual episcopal pose abseiling down his Cathedral walls. OT many people have three crowded funeral Masses on successive days in dNifferent places. Whether as priest, abbot or bishop, he was best remembered simply as ‘Father’ Ambrose. Whether at Ampleforth, Leyland or in the diocese of Hexham and Newcastle, he has been a Father in God to many people - highly respected for his intelligence, his huge energy and his pastoral zeal, but above all much loved for his radiant and welcoming smile and for the unfailing and selfless generosity with which he treated everyone he met. Throughout his life, he retained an extraordinary capacity for trustful enthusiasm. As a result, he sometimes made mistakes but he never made enemies. Michael Griffiths was born in London in 1928 and educated at Ampleforth College, where he proved to be a brilliant student, winning a scholarship to Balliol College, Oxford, where he gained a 1st Class Honours in Chemistry. He joined the Ampleforth Community in September 1950 and took the name Ambrose. He was one of a large novitiate, consisting mainly of younger men, but his own youthful exuberance and easy sense of companionship ensured that he integrated well into community life. He embodied in a remarkable way a certain THE ABBEY 19 quality of innocence and of unfeigned Christian charity, which made him incapable of anything that was mean or cynical. As a result, his influence on his brethren, especially on his own contemporaries, was always extremely positive and invigorating. He was capable of seeing the funny side of things, so much so that his hilarity sometimes caused disturbances in the choir or in the refectory, occasionally leading to quite severe official reprimands from Superiors. This joie de vivre never left him. Paradoxically, there was a sense in which his spiritual life and his devotional attitudes were less influenced by his Benedictine formation than was the case for others. His contemporaries, who were ‘trying out’ their vocation and who needed to be ‘trained’ into monastic attitudes, quickly sensed in him a commitment that was already deeply formed: it was, quite simply, obvious that he loved God in a way that was not only serene but radiant. He had grown up in a devout Catholic family, and his priestly vocation had matured over many years. This was to prove in some ways a hindrance, as some of the more subtle nuances of the specifically Benedictine tradition tended to elude him, but it was to prove a positive advantage later on. He had been formed in the tradition of diocesan and parish spirituality, and it was no surprise that he found such fulfilment in the later phases of his life. He studied Theology at Sant’ Anselmo, the International Benedictine College in Rome, and subsequently, after his return to Ampleforth, became Professor of Canon Law and of Dogmatic Theology. In this latter post he succeeded Fr Basil Hume, when he was elected Abbot in 1963. As a teacher of theology, he was both rigorous and open-minded, firmly grounded in the Thomist tradition, but very alert to the new trains of thought that were being opened up at that very time by the debates in the Second Vatican Council. He was also active in the wider field of the English Benedictine Congregation as a whole, being appointed Inspector of Accounts for the Congregation in 1961, a post he took up again after the period of his abbacy. Intellectually, he was a very effective all-rounder; able to apply his gift for analysis and precision to a wide field of commitments. Whilst living in the monastery, his very clear sense of priorities and his brilliant academic mind sometimes made it difficult for him to appreciate the intellectual and emotional difficulties experienced by less able companions as they groped their way towards a full commitment to their vocation. As a scientist, he was inclined to analyse human problems very rapidly and to move quickly towards ways of solving them. This made him, of course, a very good teacher and administrator, and he had great success first as Head of Science in the College and then as Procurator, responsible for the administration of a large and complex institution. He had an eye both for the wider vision and for the finer details, and contributed enormously to the long term development of the Ampleforth campus, which included (during his time 20 THE AMPLEFORTH JOURNAL VOL 115 as Procurator) new classrooms, boarding houses and the St Alban Centre, and (during his time as Abbot) the Sunley Centre, the Central Building and the western extension of the monastery. His personal concern for individual members of staff was sustained long after they were no longer accountable to him. He was very easy to work with, his organisational ability being tempered by a great deal of patience and good humour. He was incapable of bearing a grudge. When he was elected Abbot in April 1976, these qualities stood him in good stead, and he was always a popular and respected Superior. His greatest strengths as Abbot were his extraordinary ability to give total attention to each of a wide variety of responsibilities, his mastery of detail and his invariable kindness and courtesy to those in his care. He instinctively trusted people, was generous in his judgement of them, and took endless pains to keep in touch with members of the community working away from the Abbey. He embodied St Benedict’s injunction that an Abbot ‘should show equal care for all.’ It was, however, a difficult time for religious superiors. He had succeeded two distinguished Abbots in Herbert Byrne and Basil Hume, and had to cope with the often intractable problems in religious life that arose in the wake of Vatican II, and the sociological turbulence which characterised his time as Abbot. He was determined, at a time when the exercise of authority was being subjected to wide and general scrutiny, to explore new and imaginative ways of working towards consensus, and was anything but dictatorial in his style of leadership. He sometimes found it difficult to see why solutions that seemed obvious to him were less obvious to others, and in spite of his transparent selflessness and his indestructible good humour, the human complexities of a large community sometimes puzzled and frustrated him. Throughout this time, his prayerfulness and generosity ensured his place in the affections of his Community. He was also greatly inspired by his commitment to the deeper aspects of the Charismatic Renewal, which ensured that his own temperamental optimism was always underpinned by an unflagging, infectious faith in the over-arching guidance of the Holy Spirit. The fact he was not re-elected as Abbot in 1984 in no way changed his own commitment to his brethren, or theirs to him. He was happy to move, as it were sideways to Ampleforth’s large and flourishing parish at Leyland where he found himself very much in his element. His talent and enthusiasm, in both pastoral and administrative fields, were quickly in evidence. Difficult decisions were having to be made about the parish’s role in the educational provision for 1,400 children of primary and secondary age, and Ambrose’s combination of vision, practicality and kindness played a vital role in uniting the parish around the decisions that were made. His previous experience in education enabled him to shape a very effective system of governance in the three parish schools. THE ABBEY 21 This ‘hands on’ approach came to characterise his whole style as Parish Priest, particularly in his sensitivity to the pastoral needs of his parishioners. In spite of his lack of familiarity with people faced with real material deprivation, he was quick to identify with their needs. The Church’s preferential option for the poor came naturally to him, and his open and generous style - he instinctively said ‘Yes’ to any appeal for pastoral help - quickly made him a much-loved pastor. He was assiduous in visiting the sick and needy (and those in the two prisons which lay within the parish) and in ensuring that his brother-priests did the same. His unusual ability to give total attention to the details of a wide variety of tasks, ranging from attention to Church documents and organising pastoral programmes to the management of finances and of the Parish Club, meant that no corner of a large and complex parish was neglected. He also found time to take on, once again, the job of being the Inspector of Accounts for all the monasteries of the English Benedictine Congregation. The hallmark of his style was this combination of qualities that do not often go together - meticulous efficiency and huge personal kindness. At the heart of his influence in the parish was the rhythm of his personal and community life in the Priory. The primacy of prayer, both personal and in the shared Prayer of the Church, was absolute and unwavering.