Oxford University

+ Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
22 Mar 2009

Oxford is the most famous university in the world, if not necessarily the best.

Cambridge is generally thought to be stronger in science, and some of the great U.S.A. universities like Harvard and Stanford are stronger again, especially in research.

I went to study at Oxford more than forty years ago and returned recently.  Much had changed (there is a new business school, already highly regarded), but more seemed to have remained the same.  The streets were still full of fast talking, clear thinking self confident young men and women.  While many came from famous English schools, a much greater percentage were from poorer families.  The back doors to entry for the children of the rich and famous have been closed and competition for entry is stiff.

Oxford is different from Australian universities because it is much older, with the first colleges founded in the thirteenth century, often by Catholic bishops.  All the students live away from home in smaller college communities, and undergraduates are forbidden to take jobs in term.  This is an important difference from Australia, where financial pressures to work bite heavily into study time.

In most Australian universities not much student religious activity is visible, although Sydney University is an exception.  Here Evangelical Anglicans have been prominent for years, although the Catholic Chaplaincy has strengthened considerably with their activities often opposed by radical and homosexual groups.

Christianity is visible at Oxford because nearly all the Colleges have Anglican chapels, many of them ancient and beautiful, with decent Sunday congregations.  I stayed at Merton College this time and preached in the thirteenth century chapel at Anglican evensong, the first Catholic cardinal to do so since at least the sixteenth century Protestant Reformation.  The chapel was full and the music first rate.  Now many of the Anglican chaplains are women priests.

Many academic staff at Oxford are indifferent or hostile to religion and many of the world’s best known atheists like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens have Oxford connections.  Oxford has often been known as a home for lost causes, since they backed King Charles I when the Royalists were defeated in the seventeenth century civil war by Oliver Cromwell!

On the other hand while many undergraduates do not know much about religion, chaplains say they find almost no hostility and a greater student interest than twenty years ago.

Catholic student life at Oxford is thriving.  In my time a significant number of converts came into the Church each year and this continues.

The Dominicans (founded in the 13th century) and the Oratorians (16th century) have a vocations crisis in Oxford because they do not have enough accommodation for the young men who want to join.  At evening prayer with the Dominicans I noticed that 20 out of the approximately 25 members were under 35 years of age.

Christianity at Oxford is embattled, but alive and well.