One for Inspector Morse?

The Spectator has an article by my friend Dan Hitchens about the closure of St Benet’s Hall in Oxford. St Benet’s was a Permanent Private Hall (PPH) of the University offering degrees to students. Founded by Ampleforth Abbey it was originally for their monks - such as the late Cardinal Hume - but in more recent decades took in laymen, ad more recently, laywomen. In its original intention it was a revival of such medieval Benedictine foundations in the University as Gloucester College ( now Worcester ), Durham College ( now Trinity ), and St Bernard’s ( Cistercian - now St John’s ) It was a Catholic foundation, like Blackfriars and Campion Hall, although non-Catholics were admitted.

That its future was somewhat uncertain has been known for a while, but the announcement this last spring of its impending closure was a great shock to not only the students and staff but to the wider Oxford community.

The article by Dan Hitchens can be read at Why has Oxford killed off a much-loved Catholic college?

I agree with what Dan offers as an interpretation of the events he describes. I would perhaps modify it slightly by saying that St Benet’s has been changing for a decade and more, and not I think for the better.

When I was first in Oxford in the 1990s the typical ‘Benet’s boy’ was from the college at Ampleforth - and as likely as not heading towards a commission in the Life Guards…Red  moleskin trousers were almost a uniform for these young men. That is not to say there were also some very studious  chaps there who got good degrees and were academics or religious in the making. That is no longer the public perception of St Benet’s. Indeed friends from that second archetype have expressed to me in recent years their regret at the increasing secularisation of the Hall. This was most obvious when Ampleforth said it could no longer provide a monk as Master. The advent of a secular Master was a significant change in the eyes of all.

It has also been fairly obvious that the University administration has had the PPH’s in their sights for a while. Those that might expand to become full colleges are I suspect being nudged that way, the others need to look  carefully at their future.

The loss of St Benet’s is very sad, and possibly sinister. Along with the closure of Greyfriars as a PPH a decade or so ago the opportunity for a Catholic education in Oxford is much diminished.