netherhall newsoctober 2010

“heart speaks unto heart”pope benedict’s historic visit to the uk

contents

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CONTENT EDITOR Zubin MistryMANAGING EDITOR, DESIGN & SETTING Luke WilkinsonCONTRIBUTIONS AND ADVICE Benedict XVI, Peter Brown, Fr Joe Evans, João Bettencourt, Simon Jared, Frank Pells, Andrew Lawrence, Andrei Serban, Daniel Coyne, Pablo Hinojo, PHOTOGRAPHY Raffy RodriguezCIRCULATION Netherhall News is sent by e-mail to current and past residents of Netherhall House. It is alsoavailable at http://www.nh.netherhall.org.uk/magazine/magazine.htmCONTACT US Would you like to be included in our mailing list, contribute to or express your opinion onNetherhall News? Write to:

LUKE WILKINSONC/O NETHERHALL NEWS, NETHERHALL HOUSE, NUTLEY TERRACE, LONDON, NW3 5SA, U.K.or E-MAIL: alumni@nh.netherhall.org.uk

DISCLAIMER All opinions expressed in this magazine are those of the authors concerned and do notnecessarily represent the views of the editors of Netherhall News, of Netherhall House or of Opus Dei.

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heart speaks unto heart s the historic papal visit to the uk

discovering newman s leading experts on the blessed cardinal

faith, reason, dialogue s the pope’s address in westminster hall

a salute to britain’s youth s the pope’s address to young people

rising from the ashes s lessons from cambodia

netherhall s a fresher’s guide

in this issue

regular3

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editorial

director’s notes

athlete’s foot

film club

Cover page:students from netherhall wel-come pope bene-dict xvi at the prayer vigil in hyde park

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editorial

Readers may recall that the last issue of Netherhall News began with an editorial which rather surprisingly performed the principle tasks of editorials. It introduced what was to come in the issue through an interconnected sequence of thoughts. I’m afraid that Luke has handed the editorial pen back after my few months of hermitical seclusion to write up a thesis.

The ritual handing over of the editorial pen, a ritual which took the elaborate form of a phone conversation, marks an unfor-tunate return, one fears, to the rather messier modus operandi which has characterised editorials since Netherhall News began way back in October 2005.

Indeed, Netherhall News is now five years old, though it was not always called Netherhall News and didn’t always look like this. The past five years have seen a pleasingly expanding number of contributors. In fact, there have been too many to name and thank them all here. Special mention, perhaps, is due to certain contributors who have served as staples of the magazine at various points: Chima Okezue for his thoroughly researched pieces on economics and politics; Prakarsh Singh for his Mind Bogglers; Neil Pickering for his encounters with former residents all over the world; Joao Bettencourt for his sideways look at sports; Prasanjeet Kumar for his curious observations on Desert Island Discs. With the help of Peter Brown and Fr Joe, two tireless managing editors and spiffing gents to boot have somehow managed to produce issue after issue in consort with a feck-less content editor (Peter pays to tribute to one of the gents, Kevin Gouder, who left Netherhall just this month after six years).

There have been play reviews, oratory updates, course reports, work camp retrospectives (the latest of which appears in this issue), obituaries, alumni news and a heck of a lot of Director’s notes. There have been all kinds of feedback and constructive criticism, more of which is most welcome. There have been articles on all manner of subjects: various Popes (from Pius XII to Benedict XVI), free will, just war theory, international development, human rights, terrorism, the origins of Islam, Stalin, Colonel Gaddafi, Rwanda, Turkey, Russia, weddings in Nigeria, market-sellers in Kenya, environmentalism, e-readers, the music industry, architecture, cycling, growing tomatoes, the Apocalypse and, of course, killer monkeys in New Delhi. Indeed, there has already been one retrospective (in the November 2007 issue) and one account of a Papal visit (to the USA, in the May 2008 issue). Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the United Kingdom just a fortnight ago is, unsurprisingly, the principle focus of this issue.

There have also been some meandering editorials, which brings me back to the afore-mentioned hermitical seclusion. One transformation which took place during said seclusion was particularly noticeable: I began to look more and more like a hermit, an anchorite recluse, even a sadhu. Part of this boiled down to a custom observed by many male PhD students in the final stages of their prolonged agony: the ceremonial beard (the follicularly challenged form a niche market, incidentally, for any budding entrepreneurs). Of course, not everyone is equally observant, but I remember seeing ceremonial thesis beards back when I was a resident at Netherhall. The symbolism errs to the accidental. The ceremonial beard is very much a forget-ful observance which bespeaks, more than anything else, a maniacally muttered mantra along the lines of: ‘must write more, must write more’.

Another manifestation was a decline in concern for at-tire. Jogging pants and oversized t-shirts from ill-fated Ancient Greek summer schools (no, really) were de ri-geur. Now, it could be objected in polite euphemism that even at the best of times yours truly is neither the most finely groomed nor dressed gentleman around. But this was a decline even by these admittedly low standards. Even if recently dressed like a slob, I was struck by images of the carefully calibrated vestments worn at the Mass with the Beatification of John Henry Newman during the Papal visit. As Christopher Howse wrote in a charming report of the Mass, ‘Amid the ranks of priest in white vestments, the purple skull-caps of bishops stood out like fuchsias among candytuft’.

zubin mistry is back in the hood

cardinal keith o’brien displaying the st. ninian’s day tartan for the papal visit

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Now, I don’t know my chasubles from my surplices. But clothing is clearly an important aspect of the visual drama of liturgy pre-cisely because clothing is rich with symbolism and significance. In Scotland, the Papal visit was commemorated with a specially commissioned plaid, the St. Ninian’s day Tartan: the white lines over the blue represent the national colours of Scotland while the green recalls the lichen growing in Galloway, where Ninian is said to have been a missionary in the fourth or fifth century. Also in Scotland, two exquisite vestments which Cardinal Newman had once donated to Abbotsford House were loaned out to the arch-diocese of Edinburgh for the Pope to see. One is a 19th-century vestment while the other is believed to be a combination of 16th-century tapestry panels with 18th-century silk.

The importance of dress is not limited to religious ceremonial. An obvious example, relevant to student life, is graduation ceremo-nies. At the conclusion, the tassel on the mortarboard is shifted from right to left, symbolising the transition to graduate status. The implications of dress and regulations covering dress are also open to contestation. Earlier this decade, there was a public de-bate in Kenya, where male members of parliament are required to wear a suit and tie. In 2003, three members decked in flowing robes received, well, a dressing down from the speaker. The mem-bers retorted that in privileging European style dress, the regula-tions perpetuated colonial ideology. (My visual memory of formal dinners at Netherhall, incidentally, is dominated by the national dress specifically allowed by house rules).

Of course, the way we dress is also expressive in a way that com-bines individual and collective identities. A striking demonstra-tion is dramatised in a powerful mini-series recently on televi-sion, This is England ’86, which depicts two segments of 1980s British youth culture. ‘Skinheads’, with their distinctive shirts,

bomber jackets and boots or brogues, were striking. Ironically, the aesthetic is obviously associated with white nationalism and neo-Nazism but it originated, in part, out of Jamaican ‘rude boy’ culture and there were also anti-racist skinhead groups. Though their look is fairly pervasive now, ‘casuals’ emerged out of football hooliganism in the late 1970s through a strange mixture of prag-matism and group identity. Football fans who looked suspicious were regularly stopped by the police (they hit skinheads hard). Some Liverpool fans, so the story goes, came back from a 1977 European Cup match with European designer sportswear. An in-fectious penchant for then designer label clothes served a practical purpose: the police largely ignored those wearing exotic labels like Lacoste and Kappa, and it made it far easier to enter rival pubs if you weren’t wearing football colours.

Where does all of this leave a confessed scruffbag like me? I’m not sure, but last year it left Bob Dylan answering questions from New Jersey police officers. Alarmed by an ‘eccentric looking old man’, local residents had called the cops. Dylan was wearing sweatpants tucked into wellingtons and answered their questions from within two raincoats with his hoods up. As his biographer put it, Dylan ‘is this charming and eccentric character but it is almost like he gets dressed in the dark’. It’s a curious anecdote, but the flurry of unsurprising headlines – ‘Dylan mistaken for hobo’ etc. – is a re-minder of the social interpretations through which a certain kind of scruffiness is commonly interpreted.

But if this scruffiness is often borne of life’s hard blows, something which Charlie Chaplin’s stylised tramp, with his ill-fitted jacket and baggy trousers, obscures, it is also a cultivated look. Most intriguingly – alongside ‘Sunday best’ and religious ceremonial dress – this has shaped certain religious aesthetics. The consum-mate saint in late antiquity was not resplendently dressed. Indeed,

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ascetic saints (and most late antique saints were ascetics of one form or another) wore their rejection of conventional social values in their rags and by giving away their costly garments to the des-titute. Picturing this is a little difficult. We may be more inclined to imagine this in the way the New Jersey cops looked at Bob Dylan than in the way that travelling pilgrims thronged to see a ragged Simeon Stylites perched on his column. A useful modern aid might be Indian sadhus and their ochre loin-cloths (to men-tion nothing of digambara ascetics among Jains, who dispense with clothing altogether).

A figure who combined various elements was the Venerable Matt Talbot, a late 19th/early 20th century Irish labourer and ascetic. For well over a decade, Talbot was an alcoholic, who ran up debts through his drinking. One evening in 1884, a penniless Talbot hung outside a pub in the hope that one or another friend would invite him inside for a drink. When no offers were forthcoming, a disgusted Talbot went home and vowed to take ‘the pledge’ (i.e. give up drinking). In time, Talbot became increasingly devout. He slept each night on a plank of wood and arose before dawn to attend Mass before his work, largely as a builder. He repaid all of his debts. When he died, he was wearing chains and cords around his arms and legs. Two details capture the religious signifi-cance of dressing up and dressing down. As Talbot increasingly entered into his new life, when he returned home from work each evening, he would change into his best clothes before entering church to pray. At the same time, his customary clothes were as threadbare and worn as his meals were slight.

None of this solves the problem that I probably need a new ward-robe. But, next time you put on your Papal visit ponchos, remem-ber they’re not merely practical.

above: asian residents in netherhall in national dress for a formal dinneropposite: the newman vestments seen by the popebelow: charlie chaplin’s famous ‘tramp’bottom: the skinhead look, essential for those seeking to fit in at netherhall

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director’s notes

It’s not difficult to choose the highlight of the last few months in Netherhall. The Pope’s visit to the United Kingdom from 16 to 19 September were days of tremendous excitement and activity.

In the week prior to the Pope’s arrival (Monday 13th September to Thursday 16th September) we hosted a workshop on the ideas of John Henry Newman and Pope Benedict. Some of the coun-try’s leading experts on Newman (including Fr Ian Ker and Fr Ig-natius Harrison) came and spoke in the House. Then from Friday to Sunday many of us spent the days on the streets following the Pope around London. It was an unforgettable experience.

Elsewhere in the magazine there are accounts of the Pope’s words. I thought I’d just describe some of the ramifications felt in the House itself.

On Saturday 18th September some 200 people living in or con-nected with Netherhall made their way to Hyde Park for the Prayer Vigil with the Pope. Three residents sat in the coffee lounge greeting pilgrims as they came to collect their tickets, security pass and pilgrim pack. We also gave everyone in the group a ‘team Netherhall’ long sleeve T-shirt.

peter brown remembers the papal visit and pays tribute to a netherhall stalwart

The prayer vigil was an amazing event attended by around 80,000 people. The highlight for me was the moments spent kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament in silence. One had almost to pinch oneself to realise that this was Hyde Park, so near to Tyburn at Marble Arch where so many were executed for the Faith 500 years ago. It was also wonderful coming out of the Park after the vigil and walking up Park Lane (which had been closed to traffic) and being able to greet so many familiar faces.

No sooner were we back from the Vigil in the Park than we were arranging things for the following day. At 3am on Sunday 19th, 98 people from Netherhall boarded two coaches bound for Bir-mingham, the Mass with the Pope and the Beatification of John Henry Newman. It was another unforgettable day but what I re-member most clearly and was most moved by was that the drizzle steadily falling in Cofton Park drizzle from about 6.30am stopped just as the Pope’s helicopter landed in Birmingham at 9.30am. Then at 10am as the Pope arrived and boarded the Pope-mobile the sun came out and a rainbow appeared in the sky. Divine inter-vention doesn’t come more obvious than that. It was really quite moving and a moment when one could clearly feel that God was present at the events.

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Over these days Netherhall became a great pilgrim centre. All the bedrooms were occupied, nearly 30 people slept on the gym floor (the Southbank International School very kindly lent us about 30 plastic mats), groups slept in the green lecture room, on the floor in 101, in the newspaper rooms and in the visitors’ rooms. Ev-erywhere one went there were people trying to sleep. On Sunday morning the staff very kindly made packed breakfasts and lunches for the pilgrims and, as one can imagine, the dining room on Sunday evening was packed. Tiring but fantastic days.

Very quietly, late on Saturday 25th September, Kevin Gouder, our only Maltese resident, departed from Netherhall six years to the day after he arrived. He has completed his PhD at Imperial. The quiet departure was typical of Kevin. He is someone who has qui-etly helped out in all sorts of ways with all sorts of things over his time in Netherhall. Kevin was of course one of the prime mov-ers in the establishment of this magazine. Zubin Mistry penned the contents and Kevin put the magazine together. He dedicated hours of service to the magazine dealing with tremendous patience with all the teething problems of a new publication. Last year Kevin took me around his lab at Imperial where he was heading up a team looking into air movement over a wing (it is consider-ably more complex than this but this is essentially what they were studying). What struck me most was how an entire wind tun-nel (they’re huge) had been dedicated to this project over several months and how so many people from so many departments were involved in the project and, above it all, sat Kevin quietly bringing all the data together, encouraging the departments to cooperate and tweaking the tests to take the research forward. He really was the consummate professional. I’m sure we will often see Kevin; he’s working on a project at Imperial but will continue to help out on Sundays teaching catechism at St Mary’s Hampstead where Sr Pauline, a wonderful Maltese nun, has him working hard.

above: miguel anton being inter-

viewed at the hyde park vigil

left: netherhall stalwart, kevin gouder

below: pilgrims from the netherhall

contingent

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The few privileged days in which Britain was visited by his Holiness Pope Benedict XVI have left all of us who

were involved with so many memories and so many emotions that it has been quite frankly overwhelming. I think many people will be feeling relieved (if disappointed) that it is now all over, relieved above all that it went so well (down to the weather!) and privileged to have been involved and to have witnessed days which may pos-sibly prove to be significant in the history of the United Kingdom - the first ever official, state visit by a Roman Pontiff.

I feel I should share my own feelings of being somewhat under qualified to write this article. I am also acutely aware that my feelings and memories are my own and may be quite different to others’. In 2008 I was lucky enough to be living in Colegio Major Pedralbes (Netherhall House’s counterpart in Barcelona, Spain)

“heart speaks unto heart”pope benedict touched hearts and changed minds, write frank pells & simon jared

when Mons. Javier Echevarría visited the residence before giving a much larger get-together on the football field at Viaro School, where I was working at the time. Talking about that weekend to another teacher at that school (and also a fellow resident at Pedral-bes), my colleague and friend shared with me what other people had said to him about the weekend, and came to the conclusion that, really, every person took something different away from the events of that weekend. I expect that this will be very much the case for all of us who were lucky enough to attend some of the Papal events a fortnight or so ago. I expect that it will have meant something slightly different for each person involved, that every-thing the Holy Father told us in all of his wonderful homilies and speeches will have had a slightly different significance for each person who was there, depending on the circumstances of each person which had brought him to that point. Aware, then, that

frank:

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“heart speaks unto heart”pope benedict touched hearts and changed minds, write frank pells & simon jared

anything I say will come merely from my own per-spective on the events and may not mean anything to any of you, my readers, I ask for your patience with these, my humble recollections.

First, I feel I should express something of my appre-ciation and gratitude to Peter Brown, Alvaro Tintore, Pablo Hinojo, Jorge Aguirre and Miguel Anton (and others!) for pulling off with aplomb the Herculean task of managing and organising the entire course on Newman leading up to the Pope’s visit (which un-fortunately I was unable to attend) and on getting as many people at Netherhall as possible to as many of the events as possible. Here it is worth mentioning that so many people descended on Netherhall in or-der to attend the events that many even had to sleep on the floor in the gym. Gentlemen, you truly are a credit to yourselves and to Netherhall. Second, I feel I should thank Miguel Lim for staying behind at Neth-erhall on Sunday when the rest of us went to Cofton Park in Birmingham for the beatification of Blessed John Henry Newman. Miguel I know that Miguel must have been disappointed and that everybody who remained at Netherhall appreciated having him in charge. Third, I would like to thank Netherhall’s administrative and culinary staff at Lakefield, who not only catered successfully for an extraordinary amount of people, but also managed to do so, I am sure, in such a way that enabled as many of them to attend as many of the events as possible. To quote the popular turn of phrase: it must have been a nightmare to organise. I think I speak for everyone in Netherhall House when I say that we appreciate it enormously and we are very grateful.

The sense of relief that Catholics up and down the country must have felt when His Holiness finally ar-rived is worth mentioning. So many of us had hoped and prayed for the visit and its success in the months leading up. When the Pope finally landed on Brit-ish soil, a sense of relief (following Cardinal Walter Kasper’s remarks about Britain seeming like a ‘third world country’ and of course the ‘Memo-gate’ scan-dal) and joy must have come over all British Catholics at that time, particularly when they saw on TV and the internet how well received the Holy Father was at the Mass in Bellahouston Park in Glasgow, and how comparatively favorable the BBC’s coverage of that event was.

I, for one, felt encouraged by the stress that the Pope placed on ‘traditional values’ in his address to the Queen - his first to take place within the United Kingdom. When he rightly described such values as something which the ‘more aggressive forms of secu-larism no longer value or even tolerate’ I knew that here was an honest, brave Pope not afraid to get to the root of some of Britain’s problems. When the British media’s predictable, albeit disappointing, counter-re-ply came merely moments later (the Guardian called

his speech a ‘blistering attack’) I knew that, though it was unfortunate that British opinion should be so polarised regarding the Pope’s teaching, for the next few days the Pope and the Catho-lic Church would be all people would talk about.

On Friday I came to Netherhall, just as many people from Netherhall (led, of course, by Peter Brown) lined up along Lambeth Bridge for hours (albeit in beautiful sunny weather) just to get a glimpse of the Holy Father on his way to and from Lambeth Palace, where he met with the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, a very fruitful meeting I think for Christian ecumenism in the UK.

My own perspective of the Pope’s Mass at Westminster Cathedral on the Sat-urday was rather unique. I was lucky enough to be a representative of St. Thomas More parish (of which Neth-erhall is a part) in a group of young representatives of every parish in the diocese of Westminster. Alongside rep-resentatives from every parish in every diocese in the country, I was able to sit in the piazza outside Westminster Ca-thedral during the Mass and very near to the front of the stage during the vigil in Hyde Park.

We saw the Mass taking place in West-minster Cathedral via a large screen placed outside in the Piazza and we all felt enormously encouraged as the Pope’s homily that day (which was mainly on the Catholic understand-ing of suffering and the Eucharist) also made reference to the infamous child abuse scandal that has taken place in the Church in recent years and to which so much attention has been drawn by the world’s media. The abuses were rightly described by his ho-liness as ‘unspeakable crimes’. I think I can speak for everyone in Netherh-all, and indeed Catholics across the world, when I say that hopefully with these words the matter can now be laid to rest, lessons can be learnt, and the Roman Catholic Church will never al-low herself to fall into such a dreadful situation again. After the Mass (during which we were all able to receive Holy Communion, which I found particu-larly impressive) the Pope came out to

speak to us, the young representatives, about love. Of love, he said: ‘At times this seems so natural, especially when we feel the exhilaration of love, when our hearts brim over with generosity, idealism, the desire to help others, to build a better world. But at other times we realize that it is difficult to love; our hearts can easily be hardened by selfishness, envy and pride. Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the great Missionary of Charity, reminded us that giving love, pure and generous love, is the fruit of a daily decision. Every day we have to choose to love, and this requires help, the help that comes from Christ.’

Later, when he came to allude also to prayer, he said something which I think is particu-larly striking for those of us who have been inspired and formed in their Catholic lives by the spirit of Opus Dei:

‘Deep within your heart, he is calling you to spend time with him in prayer. But this kind of prayer, real prayer, requires discipline; it requires making time for moments of silence every day. Often it means waiting for the Lord to speak. Even amid the ‘busy-ness’ and the stress of our daily lives, we need to make space for silence, because it is in silence that we find God, and in silence that we discover our true self.’

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From the Mass at Westminster Cathedral, for which thousands of Catholic faithful not only filled the Cathedral and adjacent piazza, but also a large part of nearby Victoria Street, we went towards Hyde Park (stopping on the way to have lunch) avoid-ing the small number of protesters. The Vigil that the Pope led really deserves mentioning. So many people were there and the atmosphere was so overwhelmingly moving and positive. Con-sidering the number of people there, the event had an unbeliev-ably warm, convivial and family atmosphere (compared to say, a football match, rock concert, or even agricultural show) as the camera moved throughout the crowd, broadcasting people onto the screens, where each one would be cheered by the multitude present. The personal stories read out by so many people on the stage of how their lives had been affected for the better either by the Catholic community and faith were heartwarming and ut-terly compelling. Here was the greater Catholic community of the

United Kingdom truly coming together to celebrate itself and to give thanks to God for its own achievements, and rightly so. The positive tension in the atmosphere, after Carol Vorderman and the bishops of the United Kingdom left the stage and the screens switched to show the Pope’s motorcade passing down the Mall to-wards Hyde Park, was electrifying as thousands of people eagerly waited for the Pope to come on stage.

At the vigil itself the Pope spoke about some aspects of New-man’s life which continue to be relevant today. He said that his life ‘teaches us that passion for the truth, intellectual honesty and genuine conversion are costly’ and that ‘the truth that sets us free cannot be kept to ourselves’. He also reminded us that here in Britain (and especially in London, near Tyburn) we are surround-ed by the legacy of the Reformation and that, to some extent, Catholics in Britain (along with other Christians) are still perse-

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clockwise from below: crowds watch in silence as the pope says mass at the

vigil in hyde park; former netherhallian russell wilcox and william stockbridge

were among those attending the vigil; the netherhall contingent make them-

selves known with a huge banner welcoming the pope; the anglican primate

rowan williams greets pope benedict xvi during a joint celebration in west-

minster abbey; the pope and her majesty queen elizabeth ii exchange gifts at

holyrood palace, the royal residence in edinburgh

cuted, albeit persecuted by being ‘dismissed out of hand, ridiculed or parodied’ and not ‘hanged, drawn and quartered’ as before. He reminded us that, according to Christian belief, we are ‘created to know the truth’, that ‘truth is passed on... by the witness of lives lived in integrity, fidelity and holiness’ and that as Christians we must ‘‘radiate Christ’’ or risk becoming a ‘‘clashing symbol’’ in a world filled with growing noise and confusion’.

The Pope also reminded us of the personal vocation that each per-son (according to the Catholic tradition) is believed to have. He did so in a way that was particularly relevant to me, for he used a point from one of Cardinal Newman’s meditations, which was a personal favorite of Fr. Peter Geldard at the University of Kent, who once led me to discover for the first time the relevance of the Catholic faith in modern life. Newman had once written about the personal journey that each of us makes through life: ‘God has created me to do him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another’. Here, the Pope also invited us (and especially the diocesan representa-tives who were sitting at the front) to come to World Youth Day in Madrid in 2011, all of which was greeted with a hearty cheer and a round of applause.

Then the Vigil itself began and the atmosphere was overwhelm-ingly spiritual and prayerful as around 80,000 people knelt down in the mud in Hyde Park to adore the Blessed Sacrament, which is considered by Catholics to ‘be’ the body of Christ himself. Also impressive was the number of people able to recite the ‘Tantum ergo’ without having to read the ‘Magnificat’ booklet that came in all our ‘Pilgrim Packs’. As we all left Hyde Park to make our way home, some via Victoria Station, others via the tube at Marble Arch and Bond Street, others still via the buses, we came to realise that the better part of London’s West End had been closed down to accommodate us. As Catholics, we were no longer a marginal collection of individuals who can be dismissed out of hand as ‘fruitcakes’ or ‘living in the past’. We were a community in Brit-ish society with as much legitimacy as any other community and, indeed, with the power to shut down central London! One of the most impressive banners that I saw (apart from the one assuring the Pope that ‘We luv u more than beans on toast’ [sic]) was a St. George’s flag with ‘England 4 Benedict 16’ on it.

Those people at the vigil in Hyde Park on the Saturday night ex-celled themselves and showed their devotion by dragging them-selves against all odds, to Cofton Park in Birmingham for the Be-atification Mass itself. I do not know what to say about it that has not been expressed far more eloquently by others, except that for me one of the most moving things, apart from the overwhelm-ingly friendly atmosphere that endured despite everybody’s lack of sleep and the rain, was the rite of Beatification itself: ‘by our apostolic authority we declare that the venerable Servant of God, John Henry Cardinal Newman, priest of the Congregation of the Oratory, shall henceforth be invoked as Blessed’. Here was the undisputed, definitive spiritual leader of the Catholic Church and of all Catholics, the Vicar of Christ, proclaiming his authority to make such a wonderful addition to the canon of Saints and Blessed. It was quite a moment and it was what we had all come for, that and also, of course, to give our Holy Father our support at the end of his journey.

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Almost a fortnight on from the Pope’s visit to the UK, the press has been silent in contrast to the orchestrated critical campaign leading up to and during his visit. In Britain and throughout the English speaking world, in which, the Pope recognized, the UK has an enormously influential role, there is a popular axiom: if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. In recent years, the British media seem to have subverted this to: ‘if you can’t say something nasty, don’t say anything at all’. If the press were not saying anything about the Pope’s visit now that he had left, in fact, if they were hardly even mentioning the fact that he had left, it was because they had nothing nasty to say. Not ideal, perhaps, but very encouraging all the same.

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Despite all the hype leading up to the Pope’s United Kingdom visit in September, his trip exceeded all ex-

pectations. The media gave attention to high profile critics like Stephen Fry and Richard Dawkins, who said that the Pontiff did not deserve a state visit. There was much talk of the costs of the visit, one of Fry’s biggest criticisms. Nevertheless, Pope Benedict XVI did come to Britain as the titular head of the Vatican State.

It is fair to say that even the optimistic among us did not ex-pect such a fine reception from so many people. Pope Benedict touched down in Edinburgh in a cloud of rumour, expectation, scepticism and criticism. But from his very first speech, the ad-dress to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, it became clear that this trip would be something special.

As the visit progressed, more people began to listen with tolerant ears. While there were protesters at Westminster, there were tens of thousands more supporters all eager to see the Holy Father. His speech at Westminster was hard-hitting and profound, as in-deed were all his words. He praised the British contribution to democracy but warned that our society’s passion for freedom is in danger of prohibiting the freedom of Christians; our nation, which puts such a great emphasis on tolerance, is on the brink of becoming intolerant to Christians. He urged the people of Britain not to push religion out of the public sphere, not to try to ‘solve’

“One of the most impres-sive banners that I saw (apart from the one as-suring the Pope that ‘We luv u more than beans on toast’) was a St. George’s flag with ‘Eng-land 4 Benedict 16’ on it”

above: pilgrims awaiting the start of the beatification mass in cofton park,

birmingham

left: members of the netherhall contingent wearing their pilgrim ponchos

simon:

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religion as a ‘problem’ but to embrace it as ‘a vital contributor to the national conversation’. It was clear that as the trip went on the protesters lost voice. People listened to Pope Benedict, perhaps out of respect or politeness, but more probably because what he said was true. Sometimes harrowingly true.

I was fortunate enough to be part of Netherhall House groups attending both the Prayer Vigil at Hyde Park and the Mass for the Beatification of Venerable Cardinal John Henry Newman in Birmingham. Both events were very moving and truly incredible. Our group arrived at Hyde Park a few hours before the Holy Fa-ther did, but it was not time wasted. After making our way as far forwards as we could, we stood and watched the entertainment and joined our fellow Catholics in prayer. The Pope’s words in the Vigil were profound. In front of thousands of Catholics (and numerous non-Catholics) he uttered a call to sanctity. He asked every Christian to stand firm against the ‘profound crisis of faith’ in contemporary society and fight to be the voice of Christ. In the face of such a crisis, he exclaimed, Christians cannot ‘afford to go on with business as usual’.

I was very touched by the experience, especially when the Holy Father personally invited all young people to the World Youth Day 2011 in Madrid: an offer difficult to refuse! Whilst the homily was a great moment, the opportunity to take part in a Benediction and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament with the successor of Saint Peter was one of the great moments of my life. Surrounded by so many faithful all adoring Our Lord in the Eucharist in the middle of London, I felt very honoured to be an English Catholic and very optimistic about the future of our Church.

To get to the Mass in Birmingham on Sunday we had to leave Netherhall on two coaches at 3.00am. Although the Pope had thus far managed to escape the typical English weather, bringing with him sunshine from Rome, the morning was pretty bleak. But even standing outside in the rain did not take away from the good moods or experiences of the 60,000-plus people waiting to attend Mass with the Holy Father. Half an hour before the Pope was due to arrive a group of us found a place next to the railings surrounding the route the Pope-mobile was set to take. Sure enough when the Holy Father arrived we were ready. I had a Vatican flag and Union Jack tied to the same flag-pole which I used to welcome the Bishop of Rome. It was very touching to see the Pontiff wave at us from only a couple of feet away, a smile creeping onto his face when he saw a large group of young people all shouting ‘Viva il Papa’ (Long live the Pope)!

The Mass itself was something I will never forget. The sun came out with the arrival of the Holy Father to aid the mood and at-mosphere. The Pope’s Homily reminded us all of the now Blessed John Henry Newman’s longing for an educated and faithful laity. This is a call that Pope Benedict has echoed in his own works such as Salt of the Earth. Whilst there were a huge variety of people at the Mass, most of them regular lay parishioners, some members of religious orders, some Oratorians, plus student groups, and more, as a young student, it was this call to education in faith and culture that really hit home. Any Catholic student sees the result of an uneducated laity every day, as he or she watches friends and family fall away from the faith as a consequence of a lack of formation. Hopefully the legacy of the Pope’s visit can revitalise the laity of this country to want to learn their faith with the same depth and dedication as Blessed John Henry Newman.

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Leading up to the visit of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to Great Britain, Netherhall House organised a course

on the life and works of Blessed John Henry Newman, and his influence on the Holy Father.

The week began with ‘Newman the Ora-torian’, a talk given by the Very Reverend Ignatius Harrison, Provost of the London Oratory. This talk focused on the conver-sion of Newman in Littlemore, and his subsequent life as a Catholic and priest of the Congregation of the Oratory. Blessed John Henry Newman founded the first Oratory in Britain, located in Birming-ham, and subsequently the London Ora-tory, popularly known as Brompton Ora-tory.

The chaplain of the Oratory school founded by Newman, Father Anthony Dolan, gave a talk on the spiritual aspects of the school. Liturgy was a central part of school life, and Newman encouraged popular devotions such as Eucharistic Adoration, devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and to Our Lady. Although Newman is generally recognised as a great academic, he was indeed a pastor of souls, with an ardent love for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Dr Paul Shrimpton explained Newman’s vision of university education. As stated above, Newman was truly a pastor of souls, and this was reflected in the way he envisaged the ideal university, which involved not just academic teaching but also pastoral care. Hence, he gave impor-tance to halls of residence, which he saw as a key aspect of university life and the education of young people. Naturally, this idea struck a chord among listeners at Netherhall House.

The most notable talk of the week was given by Father Ian Ker, the world ex-pert on Blessed John Henry Newman. The theme was the theology of Newman and its influence on the Second Vatican Council held between 1962 and 1965. Newman’s stress on the importance of the laity, and his ideas on conscience are what make Newman a so-called ‘pre-cursor of Vatican II’. Fr. Julian Green, theologian and Catholic chaplain to Birmingham University, gave a profound insight into Pope Benedict’s vision of evangelisation.

discovering newmanleading experts unpacked the life and thought of cardinal newman. heythrop student ANDREW LAWRENCE reports The course was concluded with a set of talks given by Dr Andrew Hegarty, direc-tor of the Thomas More Institute, and Professor Jeroen Bons from the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands. The theme was friendship from Socrates to New-man. The classical understanding offered by the great ancient philosophers like Aristotle and Cicero saw friendship as an exchange of gifts, not material but rather concerned with character. One may have a defect which is corrected by the friend who possesses a certain virtue which one lacks, and one might help the friend in return. There was a turning point in the western understanding of friendship at the dawn of the Christian religion. Influ-

enced by the light of the Gospel, St Au-gustine of Hippo departed from the clas-sical understanding of friendship noted above. Augustine saw friendship as being desired either because God was in some-one, or because one desired to see God in someone. This was in accordance with the Gospel precept of loving God for His own sake and loving one’s neighbour for God’s sake.

Having been well informed about New-man, his ideas and his works, the students of Netherhall were prepared to greet the Holy Father and rejoice in the beatifica-tion of the first non-martyred English-man since the Reformation.

Mr Speaker,

Thank you for your words of welcome on behalf of this distinguished gathering. As I address you, I am conscious of the privilege afforded me to speak to the British people and their representatives in Westminster Hall, a building of unique significance in the civil and political history of the people of these islands. Allow me also to express my esteem for the Parliament which has existed on this site for centuries and which has had such a profound influence on the development of participative government among the nations, especially in the Commonwealth and the English-speaking world at large. Your common law tradition serves as the basis of legal systems in many parts of the world, and your particular vision of the respective rights and duties of the state and the individual, and of the separation of powers, remains an inspiration to many across the globe.

As I speak to you in this historic setting, I think of the countless men and women down the centuries who have played their part in the momentous events that have taken place within these walls and have shaped the lives of many generations of Britons, and others besides. In particular, I recall the figure of Saint Thomas More, the great Eng-lish scholar and statesman, who is admired by believers and non-believers alike for the integrity with which he followed his conscience, even at the cost of displeasing the sovereign whose “good servant” he was, because he chose to serve God first. The dilemma which faced More in those difficult times, the perennial question of the relationship between what is owed to Caesar and what is owed to God, allows me the opportunity to reflect with you briefly on the proper place of religious belief within the political process. This country’s Parliamentary tradition owes much to the

faith, reason, dialogueAddress of His Holiness Benedict XVI to politicians and com-munity leaders in Westminster Hall, Friday 17 September 2010

16 netherhall news

above: the popemobile crosses vauxhall bridge

right: heads of state: prime minister david

cameron greets pope benedict xvi

below: the pope greets nick clegg and

former uk prime ministers

netherhall news 17

national instinct for moderation, to the desire to achieve a genuine balance between the legitimate claims of government and the rights of those subject to it. While decisive steps have been taken at several points in your history to place limits on the exercise of power, the na-tion’s political institutions have been able to evolve with a remarkable degree of stability. In the process, Britain has emerged as a pluralist democracy which places great value on freedom of speech, freedom of political affiliation and respect for the rule of law, with a strong sense of the individual’s rights and duties, and of the equality of all citizens before the law. While couched in different language, Catholic social teaching has much in common with this approach, in its overriding concern to safeguard the unique dignity of every human person, cre-ated in the image and likeness of God, and in its emphasis on the duty of civil authority to foster the common good.

And yet the fundamental questions at stake in Thomas More’s trial continue to present themselves in ever-changing terms as new social conditions emerge. Each generation, as it seeks to advance the common good, must ask anew: what are the requirements that governments may reasonably impose upon citizens, and how far do they extend? By appeal to what authority can moral dilemmas be resolved? These questions take us directly to the ethical foundations of civil discourse. If the moral principles underpinning the democratic process are them-selves determined by nothing more solid than social consensus, then the fragility of the process becomes all too evident - herein lies the real challenge for democracy.

The inadequacy of pragmatic, short-term solutions to complex social and ethical problems has been illustrated all too clearly by the recent global financial crisis. There is widespread agreement that the lack of a solid ethical foundation for economic activity has contributed to the grave difficulties now being experienced by millions of people throughout the world. Just as ‘every economic decision has a moral consequence’ (Caritas in Veritate, 37), so too in the political field, the ethical dimension of policy has far-reaching consequences that no government can afford to ignore. A positive illustration of this is found in one of the British Parliament’s particularly notable achievements – the abolition of the slave trade. The campaign that led to this land-mark legislation was built upon firm ethical principles, rooted in the natural law, and it has made a contribution to civilization of which this nation may be justly proud.

The central question at issue, then, is this: where is the ethical founda-tion for political choices to be found? The Catholic tradition main-tains that the objective norms governing right action are accessible to reason, prescinding from the content of revelation. According to this understanding, the role of religion in political debate is not so much to supply these norms, as if they could not be known by non-believers – still less to propose concrete political solutions, which would lie al-together outside the competence of religion – but rather to help purify and shed light upon the application of reason to the discovery of objec-tive moral principles. This ‘corrective’ role of religion vis-à-vis reason is not always welcomed, though, partly because distorted forms of reli-

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gion, such as sectarianism and fundamentalism, can be seen to create serious social problems themselves. And in their turn, these distortions of religion arise when insufficient attention is given to the purifying and structuring role of reason within religion. It is a two-way process. Without the corrective supplied by religion, though, reason too can fall prey to distortions, as when it is manipulated by ideology, or applied in a partial way that fails to take full account of the dignity of the human person. Such misuse of reason, after all, was what gave rise to the slave trade in the first place and to many other social evils, not least the totalitarian ideologies of the twentieth century. This is why I would suggest that the world of reason and the world of faith – the world of secular rationality and the world of religious belief – need one another and should not be afraid to enter into a profound and ongoing dialogue, for the good of our civilization.

Religion, in other words, is not a problem for legislators to solve, but a vital contributor to the national conversation. In this light, I cannot but voice my concern at the increasing marginalization of religion, particularly of Christianity, that is taking place in some quarters, even in nations which place a great emphasis on tolerance. There are those who would advocate that the voice of religion be silenced, or at least relegated to the purely private sphere. There are those who argue that the public celebration of festivals such as Christmas should be discour-aged, in the questionable belief that it might somehow offend those of other religions or none. And there are those who argue – paradoxically with the intention of eliminating discrimination – that Christians in public roles should be required at times to act against their conscience. These are worrying signs of a failure to appreciate not only the rights of believers to freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, but also the legitimate role of religion in the public square. I would invite all of you, therefore, within your respective spheres of influence, to seek ways of promoting and encouraging dialogue between faith and reason at every level of national life.

Your readiness to do so is already implied in the unprecedented invi-tation extended to me today. And it finds expression in the fields of concern in which your Government has been engaged with the Holy See. In the area of peace, there have been exchanges regarding the elaboration of an international arms trade treaty; regarding human rights, the Holy See and the United Kingdom have welcomed the spread of democracy, especially in the last sixty-five years; in the field of development, there has been collaboration on debt relief, fair trade and financing for development, particularly through the Internation-al Finance Facility, the International Immunization Bond, and the Advanced Market Commitment. The Holy See also looks forward to exploring with the United Kingdom new ways to promote environ-mental responsibility for the good of all.

I also note that the present Government has committed the United Kingdom to devoting 0.7% of national income to development aid by 2013. In recent years it has been encouraging to witness the posi-tive signs of a worldwide growth in solidarity towards the poor. But to turn this solidarity into effective action calls for fresh thinking that will improve life conditions in many important areas, such as food production, clean water, job creation, education, support to families, especially migrants, and basic healthcare. Where human lives are concerned, time is always short: yet the world has witnessed the vast resources that governments can draw upon to rescue financial institu-

tions deemed ‘too big to fail’. Surely the integral human development of the world’s peoples is no less important: here is an enterprise, worthy of the world’s attention, that is truly ‘too big to fail’.

This overview of recent cooperation between the United Kingdom and the Holy See illustrates well how much progress has been made, in the years that have passed since the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations, in promoting throughout the world the many core values that we share. I hope and pray that this relationship will continue to bear fruit, and that it will be mirrored in a growing acceptance of the need for dialogue and respect at every level of society between the world of reason and the world of faith. I am convinced that, within this country too, there are many areas in which the Church and the public authorities can work together for the good of citizens, in harmony with this Parliament’s historic practice of invoking the Spirit’s guidance upon those who seek to improve the conditions of all mankind. For such cooperation to be possible, religious bodies – in-

right: the pope enters westminster hall to the sound of a trumpet fanfare

netherhall news 19

cluding institutions linked to the Catholic Church – need to be free to act in accordance with their own principles and specific convictions based upon the faith and the official teaching of the Church. In this way, such basic rights as religious freedom, freedom of conscience and freedom of association are guaranteed. The angels looking down on us from the magnificent ceiling of this ancient Hall remind us of the long tradition from which British Parliamentary democracy has evolved. They remind us that God is watching over us to guide and protect us. And they summon us to acknowledge the vital contribution religious belief has made and can continue to make to the life of the nation.

Mr Speaker, I thank you once again for this opportunity briefly to address this distinguished audience. Let me assure you and the Lord Speaker of my continued good wishes and prayers for you and for the fruitful work of both Houses of this ancient Parliament. Thank you and God bless you all!

“the world of reason and the world of faith - the world of secular rationality and the world of religious belief - need one another and should not be afraid to enter into a profound and ongoing dialogue, for the good of our civilization”

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In his Salute to the youth at the Cathedral of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, City of Westminster, on Satur-day 18 September, Pope Benedict urged young people to choose real love in their lives.

Mr Uche, dear young friends,

Thank you for your warm welcome! ‘Heart speaks unto heart’ – cor ad cor loquitur – as you know, I chose these words so dear to Cardinal Newman as the theme of my visit. In these few moments that we are together, I wish to speak to you from my own heart, and I ask you to open your hearts to what I have to say.

I ask each of you, first and foremost, to look into your own heart. Think of all the love that your heart was made to receive, and all the love it is meant to give. After all, we were made for love. This is what the Bible means when it says that we are made in the image and likeness of

a salute to britain’s youthtwo special addresses to young people from pope benedict

God: we were made to know the God of love, the God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and to find our supreme fulfilment in that divine love that knows no beginning or end.

We were made to receive love, and we have. Every day we should thank God for the love we have already known, for the love that has made us who we are, the love that has shown us what is truly important in life. We need to thank the Lord for the love we have received from our families, our friends, our teachers, and all those people in our lives who have helped us to realize how precious we are, in their eyes and in the eyes of God.

We were also made to give love, to make love the inspiration for all we do and the most enduring thing in our lives. At times this seems so natural, especially when we feel the exhilaration of love, when our hearts brim over with generosity, idealism, the desire to help others, to build a better world. But at other times we realize that it is difficult to love; our hearts can easily be hardened by selfishness, envy and pride. Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the great Missionary of Charity, reminded us that giving love, pure and generous love, is the fruit of a daily deci-sion. Every day we have to choose to love, and this requires help, the help that comes from Christ, from prayer and from the wisdom found in his word, and from the grace which he bestows on us in the sacraments of his Church.

This is the message I want to share with you today. I ask you to look into your hearts each day to find the source of all true love. Jesus is always there, quietly waiting for us to be still with him and to hear his voice. Deep within your heart, he is calling you to spend time with him in prayer. But this kind of prayer, real prayer, requires discipline; it requires making time for moments of silence every day. Often it means waiting for the Lord to speak. Even amid the ‘busy-ness’ and the stress of our daily lives, we need to make space for silence, because it is in silence that we find God, and in silence that we discover our true self. And in discovering our true self, we discover the particular vocation which God has given us for the building up of his Church and the redemption of our world.

Heart speaks unto heart. With these words from my heart, dear young friends, I assure you of my prayers for you, that your lives will bear abundant fruit for the growth of the civilization of love. I ask you also to pray for me, for my ministry as the Successor of Peter, and for the needs of the Church throughout the world. Upon you, your families and your friends, I cordially invoke God’s blessings of wisdom, joy and peace.

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Finally, in an address to pupils of Catholic schools delivered at St. Mary’s University College, Twickenham on Friday 17 Septem-ber, His Holiness encouraged young people to hear the call to holiness.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, dear young friends,

First of all, I want to say how glad I am to be here with you today. I greet you most warmly, those who have come to Saint Mary’s University from Catholic schools and colleges across the United Kingdom, and all who are watching on television and via the internet […] It is not often that a Pope, or indeed anyone else, has the opportunity to speak to the students of all the Catholic schools of England, Wales and Scotland at the same time. And since I have the chance now, there is something I very much want to say to you. I hope that among those of you listening to me today there are some of the future saints of the twenty-first century. What God wants most of all for each one of you is that you should become holy. He loves you much more than you could ever begin to imagine, and he wants the very best for you. And by far the best thing for you is to grow in holiness.

Perhaps some of you have never thought about this before. Perhaps some of you think being a saint is not for you. Let me explain what I mean. When we are young, we can usually think of people that we look up to, people we admire, people we want to be like. It could be someone we meet in our daily lives that we hold in great esteem. Or it could be someone famous. We live in a celebrity culture, and young people are often encouraged to model themselves on figures from the world of sport or entertainment. My question for you is this: what are the qualities you see in others that you would most like to have yourselves? What kind of person would you really like to be?

When I invite you to become saints, I am asking you not to be content with second best. I am asking you not to pursue one limited goal and ignore all the others. Having money makes it possible to be generous and to do good in the world, but on its own, it is not enough to make us happy. Being highly skilled in some activity or profession is good, but it will not satisfy us unless we aim for something greater still. It might make us famous, but it will not make us happy. Happiness is something we all want, but one of the great tragedies in this world is that so many people never find it, because they look for it in the wrong places. The key to it is very simple – true happiness is to be found in God. We need to have the courage to place our deepest hopes in God alone, not in money, in a career, in worldly success, or in our relationships with others, but in God. Only He can satisfy the deepest needs of our hearts.

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Not only does God love us with a depth and an intensity that we can scarcely begin to comprehend, but He invites us to respond to that love. You all know what it is like when you meet someone interesting and attractive, and you want to be that person’s friend. You always hope they will find you interesting and attractive, and want to be your friend. God wants your friendship. And once you enter into friend-ship with God, everything in your life begins to change. As you come to know Him better, you find you want to reflect something of His infinite goodness in your own life. You are attracted to the practice of virtue. You begin to see greed and selfishness and all the other sins for what they really are, destructive and dangerous tendencies that cause deep suffering and do great damage, and you want to avoid falling into that trap yourselves. You begin to feel compassion for people in difficulties and you are eager to do something to help them. You want to come to the aid of the poor and the hungry, you want to comfort the sorrowful, you want to be kind and generous. And once these things begin to matter to you, you are well on the way to becoming saints.In your Catholic schools, there is always a bigger picture over and above the individual subjects you study, the different skills you learn.

All the work you do is placed in the context of growing in friendship with God, and all that flows from that friendship. So you learn not just to be good students, but good citizens, good people. As you move higher up the school, you have to make choices regarding the subjects you study, you begin to specialize with a view to what you are going to do later on in life. That is right and proper. But always remember that every subject you study is part of a bigger picture. Never allow yourselves to become narrow. The world needs good scientists, but a scientific outlook becomes dangerously narrow if it ignores the reli-gious or ethical dimension of life, just as religion becomes narrow if it rejects the legitimate contribution of science to our understanding of the world. We need good historians and philosophers and economists, but if the account they give of human life within their particular field is too narrowly focused, they can lead us seriously astray.

A good school provides a rounded education for the whole person. And a good Catholic school, over and above this, should help all its students to become saints. I know that there are many non-Catholics studying in the Catholic schools in Great Britain, and I wish to include all

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of you in my words today. I pray that you too will feel encouraged to practise virtue and to grow in knowledge and friendship with God alongside your Catholic classmates. You are a reminder to them of the bigger picture that exists outside the school, and indeed, it is only right that respect and friendship for members of other religious traditions should be among the virtues learned in a Catholic school. I hope too that you will want to share with everyone you meet the values and insights you have learned through the Christian education you have received.

Dear friends, I thank you for your attention, I promise to pray for you, and I ask you to pray for me. I hope to see many of you next August, at the World Youth Day in Madrid. In the meantime, may God bless you all!

above: st. mary’s college twickenham, where the pope delivered his address

right: catholic schoolchildren attending the ‘big assembly’

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rising from the ashesdaniel coyne & fr joseph evans learned how cambodia is looking to the future after its khmer rouge nightmare

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When Pol Pot took power in Cambodia in 1975 he initi-ated a killing spree which, according to conservative es-timates, resulted in some 1.5 million deaths by the time

he was ousted four years later. But after this orgy of destruction new forces of life, including the Catholic Church, are at work in the country. We were privileged – and humbled – to be part of a group of students who went to this kingdom last September to make our own little contribution to this re-birth.

A trip to Cambodia is a powerful lesson in death and resurrection. In that sense, despite the constant Buddhist symbols around you, visiting this country can be a profoundly Christian experience.

We had gone out to Cambodia for the Netherhall House 2010 work camp to help build a medical centre for a missionary priest, Fr Hernan Pinilla, near the town of Pursat. Fr Hernan, a Colom-bian doing outstanding work with poor people in this deprived rural area, has started an initiative called CROAP (Centre for the Research of Optimal Agricultural Practices, and also Khmer for ‘seed’). CROAP teaches agricultural skills to local people and so helps them improve their situation in what is not the most fer-tile of regions. Many people come from other areas and were re-settled here and given land after the fall of the Khmer Rouge. As a result the older folk in the area still remember the Pol Pot years and bear the emotional scars.

Among these, we had the privilege to talk to Peter, a 60 year old Cambodian who was teaching at the local school (yet another ini-tiative of Fr Hernan). Peter had survived Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge regime and was able to offer us a first-hand account of the horrors of that dark chapter in the nation’s history. During the regime, he was, like all his compatriots, forced onto a long and brutal agrarian programme, where he witnessed many atrocities being committed. His kindness and determination to move on from his country’s past left a deep impression on all of us. For a number of years a Buddhist monk, Peter has become a Catholic, seeing in our faith a religion of true peace.

Our work in Cambodia had two central aims. Firstly, on a practi-cal level we wanted to help the locals build a health clinic which would benefit the area for years to come. Fr Hernan needed a building where a doctor could receive the many patients seeking medical attention.

The clinic gradually took shape throughout the work camp. The majority of week one was spent clearing rocks from the build-ing site and digging a latrine, but as time progressed we moved onto much cement mixing, while the more skilful members of the group either lay bricks or bent strips of metal into squares before tying them to the pillars of the building which would support the cement. We were all humbled by the work ethic of our Cam-bodian colleagues, who tolerated with a smile our vain efforts to keep up to speed!

Conditions, as you would expect, were not easy. We often worked in scorching heat, and on rare occasions had to deal with danger-ous animals. The scorpion, snake and two tarantulas were, how-ever, nothing in comparison with the red ants, which proved a constant nuisance throughout our working days!

The trip also had a spiritual focus, as we sought to mature in our shared Christian faith. To this end, we had daily Mass for those who wished to attend, and also times of prayer and spiritual read-ing. To prepare for the Pope’s UK visit, we read each day from Salt of the Earth, a long, in-depth interview with the then Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI), in which the Cardinal out-lines his intelligent, well-reasoned views on an array of topics. It was this coupling of practical work and spiritual development that was at the heart of the project.

We also had the opportunity to visit some local families who were in dire poverty. One family, despite much assistance from CROAP, still had to collect and sell large amounts of rubbish in

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clockwise from right: the team from netherhall tying the foundation of a pillar to-gether; posing at the bayon, one of the largest temples in cambodia, or even the world; a hard day’s work lay-ing bricks - antonio gonzales, vincent cheung, daniel coyne, joel crowley, pablo hinojo, geoffrey lee; a big fat bull spider; picture with the chil-dren at the croap local school in pursat, cambodia; filling the casement with cement in order to make one of the pil-lars for the clinic

“We were all humbled by the work ethic of our Cambodian colleagues, who tolerated with a smile our vain efforts to keep up to speed!”

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order to earn just a few dollars. It was disconcerting to see the children running behind the rubbish collection vehicle. Later, Fa-ther Hernan explained to us that they do so in the hope of being able to sell some of the rubbish falling from it! This was shocking to see, and made us all feel rather guilty about the relative wealth which awaited us back home.

We also enjoyed a few day trips in Cambodia, which provided us with the opportunity to see a bit more of the country. Our first trip was to a ‘floating village’, a place which adequately lives up to its nickname. It was a remarkable place, with houses, shops and even a church propped up on stilts along a vast body of water. Its inhabitants are largely Vietnamese, almost all without legal status

28 netherhall news

but tolerated by the Cambodian govern-ment. Initially they came over as “boat people”, i.e. refugees, fleeing troubles in their own land. But their children and grandchildren have continued their lives and indeed, numbers in the village still increase today as fishermen make the long journey from Vietnam looking for the abundant shoals the lake offers.

It was in the little Catholic church where we met Fr Tumlop Sophal, who it turns out was the first Cambodian to be ordained a priest after the Khmer Rouge period, and who told us his in-spirational story. It was moving to see-ing long queues of people waiting for Confession with him after Mass on this ‘boat church’.

The general religious panorama of Cambodia is quite fascinating. Pol Pot’s efforts to make a new beginning – he called it “year zero” – led to the destruc-tion of all religious life in the country. But this evil endeavour has had a posi-tive consequence. Unlike neighbouring Thailand, where Buddhism is an inte-gral part of the national life, Buddhism in Cambodia does not have such a grip. Hence, it is more normal and accept-able for people to convert to Christi-anity. We met various converts, people who had discovered God’s love largely through the work of charity of mission-aries like Fr Hernan. The Church in Cambodia is very small, with only three bishops and not that many more par-ishes, but it is growing and very much alive.

We were also able to visit Phnom Penh. For a capital, this city is relatively un-der-developed, though it has its own elegance, and our tour around the opu-lent Royal Palace was the undisputed highlight of the day.

On our final weekend in Cambodia, we bade farewell to Fr Hernan and our new friends in Pursat and travelled to Siem Reap, a wonderful market town popular with tourists. Its wealth con-trasted sharply with the poverty we saw in so many villages on the journey to it.

From here we visited the majestic Ankor Wat, which is argu-ably Asia’s greatest landmark, an enormous temple complex with a rich Buddhist/Hindu history dating back to the 12th century.

Overall, the trip was a great success. The clinic was largely completed and will be finished in the next few weeks by our friends the local workers. Many friendships were forged, both within our group and with the Pursat locals. Each of us deepened in our Christian faith and our realisation that if it is to be meaningful it must be applied to the benefit of others. It was a privilege to be a part of Netherhall House’s 2010 work camp in Cambodia.

Daniel Coyne is a student of international relations at the Uni-versity of Southampton. Fr Joe is chaplain of Netherhall House.

above: pablo hinojo with his new

best friend.

right: the main “street” of the

floating village. Villagers are

undocumented vietnamese im-

migrants who live from fishing

in the lake. As the river leading

to it moves, their village must

move too.

far right: this young child from

the floating village was not too

big for his (or our) boots!

“new forces of life are

at work in cambodia”

netherhall news 29

above: vincent cheung, superstar in thailand

right: archan ‘hot chilli’ boonyanan sending us off from bangkok to the cambodian border

below: visiting the floating village

30 netherhall news

While sitting at my laptop trying to write something for the Netherhall Magazine, I’m quickly struck by an unsettling thought: I’m out of ideas. There is absolutely no exciting stuff going on in the world of sports. No World Cup, no life-changing Champions League episodes, no interesting Grand Slam events (the US Open was somewhat uneventful), no F1 drama

(well, maybe not when Alonso clinches the title later this year…), no Olympics and the Delhi Commonwealth Games are just too… boring.

So, I decide to take a look out the window. Rain, clouds, more rain, more clouds, wind… Suddenly, I start to miss my sunny, paradisiac Portuguese summer. Hot weather, chilled-out days, beach… beach -> sea… sea -> waves… waves -> bodyboarding! That was probably the most productive line of thought that I have had today. In the United Kingdom, bodyboarding is only known and appreciated in very specific places like Cornwall or the coast of Wales. Since the summer is now over, it seems to me that this is a good opportunity to advertise this thoroughly ‘live on the edge’ sport.

Like most young people in Portugal, I turned to bodyboarding naturally when I was a child. My parents bought me a board and I just got on those waves like a fish. If you see it from the shore, it just seems like a bunch of insane teenag-ers who have some kind of death wish and are trying to fight the sea. But in fact it is so much more than that! It does take some years to learn how to surf. Staying on the board, doing tricks and, mainly, getting to know how the sea behaves and learning how to fight currents and find the proper spot to catch the wave require a good deal of experience. If you stand just a metre too far ahead or behind, you either miss the wave or get completely swollen up by it and dragged (and, in some rare cases, even drowned, especially when we are talking about ten foot-plus swells…).

Fitness is also an issue. You are required to be able to run extensively if you want to play basketball, football, volleyball or any other kind of physically demanding sport. In this case, you must be able to do it as well and, on top of that, have the necessary strength and stamina to fight sea currents. After all, the sea is definitely something you don’t want to play with. People who are too confident usually end up in all sorts of trouble. Fear is something that everyone should have. It is a healthy feeling and allows one to stay sharp and have great respect for Mother Nature.

I advise anyone who has any curiosity for this sport to try it. In no time, one is able to ride a wave or two and really enjoy a heart-pumping experience. Personally, I think that there is nothing in the world that can compare to surfing a ten foot swell at 40mph. It is a unique sensation when adrenaline fills up your body and your heart starts racing like a Formula 1 car! It takes time, years of practice and some lessons to be able to do all those tricks and flicks, and I would never advise someone to try out this sport when the sea is rough and the waves are big.

But, still, I believe that no other sport can provide the same kind of excitement that bodyboarding does. No one expects a newbie to get in the sea and start performing like the legendary Jeff Hubbard, two-time World Champion, and one of the very few people in history who were able to do an aerial-720º. But the sheer force and speed of a three-metre wall of water can bring about the best excitement a human being can ever experience.

The best places for surfing and bodyboarding in the world:Teahupoo (Tahiti), Samoa, Waikiki Beach and Kauai Island (Hawaii), Namotu Reef (Fiji), Malibu and Newport Beach (California), St. Michael’s Island (The Azores Islands - Portugal), Praia Grande and Praia do Guincho (Portugal), Mundaka rivermouth brake and Zarautz beach (Spain), Le Penon (France), Duckpool, Sandymouth and Northcott Mouth (Cornwall – United Kingdom), Tamarama and Kirra beach (Australia).

athlete’s foot bored with sport at the moment? try bodyboarding, suggests joão bettencourt

netherhall news 31

Inception is a film that cannot be reviewed. Like 2001: A Space Odyssey or The Matrix, Christopher Nolan’s latest production chal-lenges the classical mainstream film structure and experiments with the medium beyond any previous limit. If Kubrick’s film was too abstract and ambiguous, hiding its meaning behind Freudian symbols and a psychoanalytic message projected on a sci-fi

background, Inception reveals everything to the viewer from the get-go. Even though it is clearly the work of an auteur of such renown, the film stands out on its own without relating to Nolan’s previous works or trademarks. It does not rely on performance either, despite the A-list cast attached to it. Editing is also used to sustain the story, instead of insidiously stealing the attention from the plot and telling the audience what to think and feel, for example, through non-diegetic music (i.e. a musical score which is ex-ternal to what is being depicted on screen) or fragmentation among the film’s protagonists, as is the case in many recent mainstream productions.

Nolan’s film deals with the ontological theme of solipsism – the idea that the only stable (and certain) object of existence is the individual’s own mind, the external world merely being a projection of our subconscious. It brings together Descartian elements, metaphysical understandings and Far Eastern philosophical motifs, all in a very accessible, captivating and extremely entertaining manner. Every viewer is assured to come out of the screening room with a wider perspective and an open mind, thinking outside the three-dimensional realm and having a hard time getting back home – the effect is that powerful!

The film plays out with these concepts in the most logical way imaginable… and on a $160m budget. In this respect, I seri-ously doubt any conclusion, star rating or thumbs up/down categorization would suffice in recommending the film and what it promises. This is an experience every cinephile must live and it also rep-resents a promising future for mainstream cinema from now on – very good to see that not all filmmakers at the top of the A-list have to be sell-outs and that true creative talent is still appreciated.

inception andrei serban discusses one of the year’s most extraordinary films

driven up the walls: Inception features some mind-bending visual effects

Andrei Serban is from Romania and is cur-rently reading (or watching?!) Film Studies at King’s College London. This is his first year in Netherhall

32 netherhall news

netherhall: a fresher’s guidepablo hinojo & luke wilkinson on surviving life in the houseIf you’ve just arrived in Netherhall you may be experiencing a degree of culture shock. Other student residences might be characterised by long lie-ins, last minute essays and messy kitchens used solely for preparing baked beans and cups of tea, but in Netherhall life is very different. Ghetto-gethers, guest squeakers, formal dinners...confused? This 60 second guide is what you need to make the most of your time in the house.

One of the key elements of a balanced life in Netherhall is a commitment to studying, and the atmosphere of the house tries to promote this. There’s even an entire library for snoozing in!study

retreats

summer tripsarts

sports & activities

friendship

Regular retreat weekends offer times of stillness in the middle of a busy term. All students are welcome to par-ticipate, whatever their creed. Neth-erhall chaplain Fr. Joe is always available to chat

In the summer holidays, don’t expect life in Netherhall to get quiet! Residential philosophy trips to Spain, work camps in SE Asia, and opportuni-ties for teaching English are all on offer.

Make the most of the opportunity to make friends with people from around the world. Get-to-gethers are a fan-tastic way to meet other residents, and regular guest speakers add a level of interest

Residents are en-couraged to ar-range activities amongst them-selves. In the past these have in-cluded: football, basketball, gym club, film nights, cultural trips, poker, and fish-keeping

There is a vibrant arts programme at Netherhall: regular recitals by music students and professional musicians, as well as a house play each year at Christmas, per-formed entirely by residents!

current residents display their national dress at a formal dinner

best of both worlds: play some serious football and work up a serious appetite for a summer bbq

pablo cramming for his netherhall entrance exam... “a b c d ... ummm ... q ?”

wickenden manor in the heart of sussex countryside is the scene for retreat weekends

brothers gerrard and anthony holden singing at the christmas show last year

a gaggle of netherhall philosophers thinking hard in the heat of seville