Feature Article

Class of ’63

The making of an archbishop – 2

Of the 15 young men starting studies with Vincent Nichols at the English College in Rome 46 years ago, four did not make it to ordination. Now there are just six left in the priesthood. But all of them helped shape the man who on Thursday will be installed as the eleventh Archbishop of Westminster

In the October of 1963, 15 young men, most of them fresh out of school, entered the Venerable English College, Rome, to begin their training for the priesthood. Nothing unusual about this, one might think, but among them were individuals who would go on to do some extraordinary things: not least, the young Vincent Nichols, who is due to be installed on Thursday as the eleventh Archbishop of Westminster.

For all of them, it was a fascinating and unusual time to be in Rome. Pope John XXIII had died in the June of that year and Pope Paul VI had just opened the second session of the Second Vatican Council. All of the English and Welsh bishops were staying at the college.

Mgr Roderick Strange, a student at the time and now rector of the Beda College in Rome, explained. "We were very much involved as close spectators of what was happening. We had the bishops living with us and the Council fathers, such as Cardinals Suenens and Frings, were people who we saw about."

In the years after the Council finished, that is 1965-70, said Mgr Strange, the students observed as the bishops sought to make sense of the Council's decisions and documents.

The proceedings of the Council and living cheek-by-jowl with the bishops clearly had an effect on the seminarians. Vincent Hughes, who arrived at the age of 17 and left after a year, explained. "I remember the bishops coming in for their evening meal with us. I had been used to having plums and custard at school and I saw Bishop George Dwyer (then Bishop of Leeds later Archbishop of Birmingham) peeling a pear and having a piece of cheese for his pudding. It was a big cultural shift for me."

Chris Larkman, who was a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Southwark at the time, said: "We were lectured to by the periti [theological advisers to Bishops at Vatican II] and after each day's session the bishops would talk us through what had been going on. It was a spark we all got from Rome. The doors were being thrown open."

It seemed that a friendlier, less formal Church was emerging. Fr John Guest, now vicar general of the Diocese of Nottingham, recalled that during his studies he and some of the other students took the then almost revolutionary step of going out to lunch with some of their university professors. "That was something that would have been virtually unheard of," he said.

The English College also underwent its own period of change during this time. When the seminarians arrived in 1963, the timetable was strict: students rose at 5.30 a.m. and led a disciplined day of prayer and study until going to bed at 9 p.m. They were unable to go out in groups of fewer than four and had to take oral philosophy exams in Latin.

"When people asked me how long I was at the English College, I used to say 152 years," said Mgr Strange. "The reason is that during meals one of the books read to us was about the life of Cardinal Wiseman and the timetable for students in 1818. It was exactly the same as ours was in 1963."

By the end of their time, however, things had begun to change. The timetable was relaxed, they were able to socialise with people from outside the college (which was previously banned) and the language of lectures switched from Latin to Italian.

Mgr Strange contrasted his year group, most of which had come from stable Catholic families, with today's seminarians. "They come from different contexts, and often are converts," he said. "Therefore - and this is not meant as a criticism - the foundations can be a bit shallow." As a result, he added, when people questioned what was going on in the Church during that period, his year group could respond to the criticisms because they simply knew more and the Church was in a "stronger position" at that time.

The group have fond memories of Vincent Nichols, although not all saw his rise to Archbishop of Westminster as obvious. Mr Larkman recalled a "slightly shy" young man with a sense of fun. "I remember, on a holiday from Rome, riding at speed around North Wales on the back of his motorbike," he explained. All remember the young Nichols' sporting abilities - he represented the college football, rugby and cricket teams and the future archbishop was also a keen trumpeter. Vincent Hughes remembered a popular member of the college who had a strong commitment to the spiritual life. For Archbishop Nichols, ordained in 1969 by Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, the notorious president of the Vatican bank, his career after the seminary has been a seemingly smooth progression to the pinnacle of English Catholicism. For the rest of his year group, however, 11 of which were ordained, it has been rather different.

One of the most fascinating journeys is that of David Payne, who became a prominent figure in Canadian politics. Ordained in 1969, aged 25, for the diocese of Middlesbrough, one of his first jobs was as a secretary to Derek Worlock, then Bishop of Portsmouth and later Archbishop of Liverpool, at the second Synod of Bishops in Rome. The glamorous life didn't last long, however, and he was sent off to a parish in Hull as a curate. The parish priest at the time, he explained, made it clear he didn't need an assistant priest and Mr Payne began to have doubts about his vocation. He was helped by a monk from Ampleforth, Fr (later Cardinal) Basil Hume, who counselled him through this difficult period. He decided to take time out and travelled to Canada where he became a teacher at a higher education institute, Vanier College, Quebec, and later its president. Mr Payne started writing on social affairs and a chance encounter with René Lévesque, the founder of the Quebec nationalist party, Parti Québécois, and later Prime Minister of Quebec, propelled him in to the front line of politics. He eventually became Parliamentary Secretary to the Canadian Prime Minister. Mr Payne is married with two daughters and now works for the United Nations Development Programme in Afghanistan and as a special adviser to the President of the Assembly of Kosovo.

It all seems a long way from the rarefied atmosphere of the English College, but Mr Payne says his time there, particularly the academic rigour, helped him a great deal in life. He has fond memories of playing cricket in the gardens of the Villa Doria Pamphili.

"As the resident wicketkeeper for the English College I was fortunate regularly  to have Vin [Nichols] (first slip), Chris Budd [now Bishop of Plymouth] (second slip) and Sam [Crispian] Hollis [now Bishop of Portsmouth] (third slip/gully). I had no idea they would all become bishops, but all three were a safe pair of hands," he explained.

Out of the 11 who were ordained priests, four later decided to leave. Another of these was Bill Kilgallon, now the director of St Gemma's Hospice, Leeds, and chairman of the National Catholic Safeguarding Advisory Service. After ordination he was based at Leeds Cathedral and set up a day centre for homeless people, St Anne's Centre. Mr Kilgallon retired as its chief executive in 2002.

Seven years into being a priest, however, Mr Kilgallon applied for permission to leave, and got married (he has two daughters). He and his wife have also been foster parents, looking after 93 children in their 30 years of marriage. Alongside his work at St Anne's, Mr Kilgallon became chairman of the largest NHS trust in the country, a city councillor, and had a term as Lord Mayor of the city of Leeds.

Mr Kilgallon said Rome sparked his interest in public life. "I used to go to lots of open air political meetings in the city - although I was slightly mocked for it at the time. It was a time of riots and rebellions and was a fascinating period."

Another of those who left the priesthood, Chris Larkman, also devoted his life to serving others. Originally a priest for the Archdiocese of Southwark, he is now a social worker in Tower Hamlets, London, and married with four children. While working in a parish in Deptford, he helped found a community law centre and bookshop and then trained in social work.

"I found that my ministering to others and being a priest were pulling me in two different directions," he said.

For those who remained priests, however, their lives have similarly been those of service. One of these is Fr Guest who, soon after ordination, was asked to teach French in the Diocese of Nottingham's junior seminary, St Hugh's, at Tollerton. He started a degree at the city's university and took a year out in Paris and later became head of the junior seminary. When it closed he was asked to become the national chaplain for the Catholic Marriage Advisory Council (now Marriage Care) alongside work for the bishops' conference's family life commission - where Vincent Nichols was then general secretary.

Fr Guest described the change in the Church since his time at the English College. "The bubbly confidence we had seems to have disappeared," he said. "It seems to be a more clerical church again. The world has not gone on the way we thought - there have been some rather horrific ups and downs."

There was also Fr Tony Battle, a priest for the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle. He died two years ago and most of the group made it to his funeral. All speak with great fondness of him as a pivotal member of the group, who was known for travelling round on one of the first Eastern European motorbikes, campaigning against the poll tax and tirelessly trying to build up community in his parish.

Despite their diverging life journeys, the group are kept together by strong bonds of friendship. For 12 years after ordination they met up for the inside of a week at a convent in Ilkley, Yorkshire. And in 2003, 40 years after they first arrived in Rome, the group - including those who left the seminary - had a reunion.

Hugh Elwes, from a recusant Catholic family and publisher of Christian books who left the seminary after six weeks, hadn't seen many of his fellow students for 40 years. He said: "I thought I was a fraud going along but it was great to catch up with them and we all got on remarkably well."

On Thursday, Vincent Nichols is due to be installed as Archbishop of Westminster. Those days spent more than 40 years ago at the English College undoubtedly played a profound part in shaping his understanding of the Church and the world.