With a hand on my heart…
Fr. Thomas

University was a great time for me.  I came to the University of Nottingham in 1987 to study Chemical Engineering and found myself immersed into a new way of being.  Nottingham offered a great number of opportunities that I devoured.  Beyond the challenges of study, I became involved in the Students’ Union and revelled in the cut and thrust of student politics.  With the wealth of cultural activities offered by a major city, I enjoyed the theatre and concerts.  Above all, I delighted in making new friends from all over the world, friendships that have lasted to this day.

As an engineering student, my life was particularly male dominated.  My year had only one girl in it who was a real tonic.  As a group, we would often go to the local pub quiz on a Sunday evening at the Hand and Heart.  This pub was conveniently situated 300yeard north of St Barnabas Catholic Cathedral in the city.  Strangely, the majority of my friends were Catholics who, being of sound upbringing, would fulfil their obligation to the Mass and then come up the hill to join me in the pub; I was not a Catholic having been baptised and nurtured in the Church in Wales.

I disliked intensely waiting in this pub on my own, and so after a while, I decided to join my friends at Mass, a decision that caused much amusement amongst them.  We would sit underneath the organ in the South Transept and over time, I became enchanted with the liturgy.  It was led by a music group of good calibre and the cathedral would always be full, sometimes standing room only.  The whole atmosphere of good music, tangible prayer and challenging preaching began to make me ask a very fundamental question: what is so different here from what I believe?

I began to read about Catholicism and the teaching of the Church.  One of the first books I read, which remains dear to me today, was A Touch of God describing eight monastic journeys some of which involved a reorientation of Church membership.  That of Dom Alan Rees, who later in my life became a friend until his untimely death, remains an inspiration.  In terms of teaching, Herbert McCabe’s The Teaching of the Catholic Church a precursor of today’s Compendium of the Catechism and Roderick Strange’s book The Catholic Faith became companions on my journey of rediscovering prayer, teaching and God, who for many years had been hidden among the clutter of life.

I was received into full communion with the Church in December 1993 at the University of Nottingham Catholic Chaplaincy whilst doing postgraduate studies in engineering.  It was a day of delight and happiness after a long period of challenging conversation with the University Chaplain who was someone who would not allow me to argue away any aspect of Church teaching into the realm of “simple teaching authority.”  I probably used more of my mind in this endeavour than completing my PhD!  I did not feel a sense of “homecoming” at my reception since home is a place known well, and where I had arrived was a new and undiscovered country.  But landing with both feet into the rich embrace of the Church was a moment of beginning, a fresh start and a brighter outlook.

I became more involved in the life of the chaplaincy and experienced a new set of friends with a deep spirituality that again, challenged me to think about the life I had chosen within the Church.  I became involved in liturgy and prayer at the University, participated in retreats with the community, and came to a realisation that my friendships were teaching me something about where I needed to research in terms of my life, no longer in the chemical plant or laboratory but examining the human heart.  Rather than experiencing Christ in the encounter, being the agent who brings that encounter about and touches the heart became more of a reality.  I began to think about the priesthood in the Church.

I applied to the Diocese of Nottingham for priestly training soon afterwards; a gamble being only 18 months in the Church, but the Bishop sent me to seminary at the Venerable English College in Rome.  After six years of study, I was ordained and was sent initially to a curacy at the cathedral and as chaplain to the Nottingham Trent University.  After two years there, I was appointed to my own parish and a shift across the city brought with it the chaplaincy of the University of Nottingham – the place where this Catholic enterprise began.  Not every priest has the delight of being able to celebrate the Mass for 200 staff and students each week in the place where he was received into the Church!  It is a strange privilege, as now, in my fourth year, I too have received a good number of students into the Church myself in the same place and wonder what the Lord is calling them to do in our world.

University chaplaincy is a vital part of the mission of the Church in this country.  The leaders, both lay and clerical, of the Church coming into being in these days will more than likely, pass through the doors of higher education and a safe and welcoming environment for them to express and learn about their faith is vital.  It is a venture that I enjoy and am daily challenged in.  It is a long time since my evenings in the pub waiting for my friends, but the journey so far has brought many good things.  I can say, with a hand on my heart, that I have loved it and look forward to future challenges in my ministry.