Homily for the “Welcome to Our New Home” Mass

23rd October 2024
By Roberta Canning

I was here in this chapel in 1964. I was in my first term as an undergraduate and Fisher House was only for men.  The equivalent Margaret Beaufort Society was a much simpler affair and most Catholic women students just went to Mass where they could.   What made all the difference for me was that I joined a discussion group here. It was led by a priest in his final year and it was where I began to learn about Vatican 2 ; it was also where, towards the end of November 1964  the group came to the chapel  to rehearse for our first Mass p in English – on the first Sunday of Advent.

It was sometime in the next year that Mgr Gilbey left Fisher House and women were admitted. My husband tells me that  it had seemed perfectly normal for Fisher to be male only because almost all the undergraduates came from single sex schools. They had not considered what it was like for us to be excluded. There may be a lesson for other male only groups in the Church.  At Fisher House I learnt more about key teachings of Vatican 2 – understanding the church as the people of God, the universal call to holiness and service  of all the baptised, the importance of listening, reading and studying the word of God, the importance of ecumenical friendship and dialogue, social justice.

When I returned to Cambridge in 2007, Margaret Beaufort was flourishing and a key member of the Cambridge Theological Federation. It was founded to be a place where women could study theology and ministry to a high academic level within a community of Catholic women and alongside Christians of other traditions. Margaret Beaufort was committed to preparing laywomen and women religious for service in the structures of Church as she is and not as some might like it to be. Graduates went on to ministries like hospital, school and prison chaplaincy or work in parishes. They took their education and formation to work and service in the wider society. For many of the women the experience was transformative. In term time the Thursday evening Mass and the following meal formed the basis for a community of faith and friendship.

From 2010 Margaret Beaufort faced a succession of challenges which its principals faced with wisdom and initiative. Full tuition fees were a particular issue for mature students like ours. Fewer Margaret Beaufort students lived at the institute and increasing number of students studied online; MB was now recruiting postgraduates and to short courses – and assembling a considerable cohort of research associates. A process of discernment led to the decision to sell the Grange Road site and has brought the institute to its new home in the Woolf Institute.

There is now a mix of in-person, online and hybrid teaching. I know from studying for the postgraduate certificate in chaplaincy and pastoral studies two years ago that online communities of study can be very effective and nurturing. Margaret Beaufort has students from across the world. There are still major lectures and symposia. Margaret Beaufort now has male staff, students and research associates.  MB’s community of research associates are contributing to research in so many areas. One associate, Peter Coughlan and the Institute of Ecclesial Ethics led by Liam Hayes have helped many of us to understand the Synod and so are contributing to a more synodal way of being church. This is truly a work of the Holy Spirit.

In this week’s readings from Ephesians, the apostle tells us we are all part of God’s household, all of us built into a house where God lives, in the Spirit. We are all called to be servants of the gospel by a gift of grace from God. The place of women in the church has changed greatly in the last sixty years. There may still be work for Margaret Beaufort and her graduates to do to help the hierarchy to see the world from our shoes so that we may serve God and the gospel more fully; however as Cardinal Steiner said last week, women are already doing the work of deacons in everything short of ordination already.

In its next stage at the Woolf Institute, may Margaret Beaufort and all its staff be blessed and continue to nurture faith, theological understanding, good pastoral practice,  ecumenical and interfaith friendship and service.

May it continue to be a house where the Spirit dwells in individuals and in the community for the common good and human flourishing to the glory of God.

*In the image, a group of smiling friends stands together from right to left: Roberta, Theresa, and Mary.