Courting the Colleges
You’ll have noticed I’ve not blogged since the sleep out. Nothing to do with tiredness and such, but I’ve been away visiting theological colleges. As the Diocesan Director of Ordinands, I try to get to each of the colleges each year – to visit our ordinands in training, and find out how they are doing in-situ; and also to meet the college principal and staff and act as an ambassador for Salisbury Diocese, and enjoy conversations with them about the current state of theological education and formation, and its future.
My first visit was up at Durham, where I called in to Cranmer Hall, part of the University of Durham, and located in St John’s College. http://www.dur.ac.uk/st-johns.college/cranmer/
I love that part of the world, and enjoy the different culture and context that is all too apparent. The students were lively and I appreciated the strong emphasis on mission and ecumenical partnerships; post-graduate studies, and the variety of placements in post-mining pit villages, and wealthier regeneration projects. The Cathedral, as always, enticed me in, and it was good to see crowds of people, of all ages, milling around and praying at the shrines of Celtic saints.
The following day I left Durham and travelled west to Mirfield in Yorkshire. http://college.mirfield.org.uk/ This was my first visit, and I was bowled over by the spirituality of the college. The college shares the site with the Community of the Resurrection, a religious community of around 16 monks. The singing of plainsong was just wonderful, and students and staff alike were welcoming. There are imaginative plans to develop both the college and the community, including building a boat shaped monastery; reorder the community church to include a river, and scenes to explore the life and teaching of Jesus; and develop the college to train women and men for mission in the church of tomorrow.
I trust I was able to share a clear vision of how the Diocese of Salisbury saw its role in partnering the formation and training of the clergy of the future, as well as engaging in exciting conversations with staff and students seeking to discover what kind of church is God calling us to shape to further his mission in the world.
A very worthwhile trip for me, and I’m planning to visit the other colleges in the coming weeks.
March 9th, 2010 at 10:31 am
Alan,
It was lovely to see the photo of the garden of Cranmer Hall. My father trained there in the 1960s and I remember playing on the grass beneath those windows. I would have been around 7 years old. I lost my matchbox dustbin truck there- you didn’t find it by any chance?
Paul
March 9th, 2010 at 10:13 pm
Thanks Paul – to be honest I didn’t spend much time in the garden! However, next time I will indeed take a look – I wonder how much that Matchbox Dustbin truck would be worth now!