The Ampleforth Journal September 2007 - July 2009 Volume 113 CONTENTS EDITORIAL 8 THE ABBEY From the Abbot's Office 14 Ampleforth Hospitality 17 The Ampleforth Community 19 Community News 22 Christ the Word — An African Monastery 24 Manquehue and Ampleforth 26 St Benet's Hall 28 Bom to Serve 31 Civitas Dei — Half-a-Century of Building Development 34 The True Significance of Cardinal Hume's Reputation 39 Cardinal Hume — A Personal Tribute 44 Fr Charles Macauley OSB 46 Abbot Placid Spearitt 50 Fr Benet Perceval OSB 53 OLD AMPLEFORDIANS From the Development Office 60 Old Amplefordian Obituaries 62 Recollections of Pat Boulton 74 Old Amplefordian News 78 AMPLEFORTH COLLEGE Headmaster's Introduction 87 Co-Education — A Personal Reflection 90 The Academic Life of the College 92 The School 100 College Common Room 138 Chaplaincy 140 The Arts at Ampleforth 143 Activities 154 A Brief History of Sport at Ampleforth 156 ST MARTIN'S AMPLEFORTH Headmaster's Introduction 167 Fundraising and Development 169 Spiritual Life 170 Academic 173 Arts at St Martin's Ampleforth 176 Sport 179 Pre-Prep 183 Other Events 184 CONTENTS 7 NEW LOOK FOR THE JOURNAL There is, in a sense, nothing new about this. The intention of Bishop Hedley, when A he FR DOMINIC MILROY OSB laid the foundations for the Journal in the nineteenth century, was to do just this. What was EDITOR OF THE AMPLEFORTH JOURNAL already unusual was the 'hybrid' character of the publication. The peculiar feature of Ampleforth (in comparison with other monasteries) was the long cloister, It will be quickly obvious that this number of the which links the monastery to the school, stretching from the heart of the monastery Journal is different. It is shorter. It contains less to the top of the Big Passage. The Ampleforth Journal has always reflected this information. More significantly, the balance between special and curious feature, by speaking with one voice of both the Abbey (including the different sections — Monastery, School and OA its works outside the valley) and the College (including OAs). news — is greatly altered. The Journal thus aims to represent, and to serve, the complex interests of an extended HE reasons for these changes are very simple, but undivided family. The balance has shifted a good deal over the years, and more recently although they have complex consequences. The the sheer weight of school data has tended to predominate. The present T moment Journal itself used to be the primary bridge of provides an opportunity for a radical review of this question of balance. communication between Ampleforth Abbey and The result is a significant shift from detailed record to a more general overview of what has been College and its wider family, OAs, parents and truly significant in our recent history. It will be the role of the Journal to give a deeper friends. This is no longer so. shape to the more immediate news and images transmitted elsewhere. College Newsletter, the Website and the other publications produced The Diary, the A TIME OF CHANGE by the Schools and the Development Office have, in many respects, already replaced the Journal. The result of the Sedbergh match is available on the website within T may be a truism to say that (whether at Ampleforth or in the world at large) the moments, and news and images of recent events are available long before the recent period has been one of very rapid change. It is important, both for persons publication date of the Journal. I and for institutions, to know how to distinguish between changes of fashion, which may be ephemeral, from changes of substance. As Newman said, `To live is to Moreover, the Journal, which used to appear termly, has for the last ten years change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.' Benedictine monasteries have, appeared only annually. The data which it has traditionally carried is all available for fifteen hundred years, embodied a particular tension between continuity and elsewhere, and its 'news' is already largely obsolete by the time it appears. change, and Ampleforth is no exception. The changes which are visible on the campus are not the only expression of what has changed, at a deeper level, in half a What this means is that the purpose and content of the Journal has needed to be century, but they are the most visible ones. redefined. In the first place, it is pretty clear that it should not simply duplicate the other publications, but rather be complementary to them, anchoring them in the It may be helpful, for those who have followed developments at Ampleforth only deeper context of a longer history. With this in view, we have taken steps to fitfully or from a distance, to provide a brief summary, not only of the changes which harmonise the editorial direction of all our communications both internal and have reshaped the campus, but also of the inescapable reasons for them. We owe this external. to the readers of the Journal, because it is they whose support has made such development possible. The Journal need no longer carry data that has already been published. It therefore has the opportunity to become less reflective. It should offer, crowded and more It was appropriate that the post-1945 development should start with the completion year by year, a coherent overview of what is really happening at Ampleforth, at a of the Abbey Church. This represented an affirmation of the priorities which have level deeper than that of immediate news. We belong to a long tradition which has not changed. The factors governing subsequent development were several and inter- had many phases, and it is important that we should continue to interpret this history related. They are presented here in logical rather than in chronological order. as we go along, sharing with others our particular discernment of the tension between what is new and what is perennial. Firstly, the growth of the College made it necessary to build new boarding houses, THE ABBEY 9 8 THE AMPLEFORTH JOURNAL VOL 1 13 House. Secondly, the need for new academic and sports facilities starting with Aumit Ought one to conclude that Ampleforth has lost its soul, or that it is no longer a many readers will remember — by temporary buildings (which was met at first — as Benedictine school? The question is a real one, and should not be dismissed lightly. provision for Arts, Technology, Indoor Sports, Music of varying ugliness) led to new There is, however, at least a partial answer, which deserves to be pondered by those and Science. who are tempted to associate their schooldays exclusively with the presence of wise and disinterested monks. In the past, most of these monks were also Old Boys of the Building had to be replaced, and this Thirdly, it became clear that the old Central school. This is no longer the case. But the wider experience of our recent monastic College, including the process caused a domino effect in the reshaping of the intake represents a positive asset in which the commitment of the monastery to the became relocation of houses. Fourthly, the need for more modern boarding facilities wellbeing of the College is in no way diminished. an imperative factor in planning — a very challenging one, as it became clear that the -build. attractive option of refurbishment would be far more expensive than new What is it that has attracted to Ampleforth so many dedicated Catholic lay men and women who are prepared, not only to teach here, but also to accept joyfully the Fifthly, it became clear that the College's much-cherished tradition of dining in implications of a full and demanding pastoral involvement in the life of the sort of houses would have to bow to economic realities. This change had consequences, not community that Ampleforth is? What sort of Church is it that our children are only with regard to the reallocation of space, but also for the time-tabling of the growing into? Is it perhaps possible that the message of the Gospel and of the Rule school day and for the way in which the houses relate with each other. of St. Benedict can be transmitted in new ways by a community of people who are, whether clerical or lay, celibate or married, committed to a common vision? Sixthly, the huge shifts in parental attitudes to rural and remote boarding, to the primacy of securing Catholic education for their children and to the tradition of pre- The new relationship which is developing between the monastic community at secondary boarding led to a radical and necessary re-appraisal of Ampleforth's Ampleforth and its lay collaborators may be still in its infancy, but it is, in the context traditional 'catchment area.' This has resulted, via a complex series of mergers, in of the sceptical and demoralised society which surrounds it, very distinctive. The the presence of a single thriving feeder-school (St Martin's, Ampleforth) at Gifting monastic presence in our schools is now being deployed through a carefully planned Castle, and in a strategy which has sustained admissions to the College at a high programme of chaplaincy, which ensures that all the houses have access to the level at a time when this is not easily achieved. pastoral support of a monk-chaplain. It is hardly surprising that the most significant factor driving recent development He in his turn works closely, not only with the Housemasters and Housemistresses, has been the decision to introduce co-education. It was not an easy decision, but with resident tutorial staff.