A rich context for ministry...

A Catholic sixth form College is many things: a place of learning; a place of challenge and growth for young people; a place where young men and women study and make decisions that will shape their own futures and consequently the future of society.

For all these reasons, a Catholic sixth form College is also a rich context for ministry. These days Catholic Colleges contain a wide variety of students. Many come from Catholic High Schools, but a significant number will come from other Christian schools and other faith backgrounds too.

What does a Chaplain do? In fact this is not easy to answer. A quick response might be that the Chaplain is there to support and nurture the spiritual life of the College, but this is a bit vague. In a Catholic educational institution we are part of the Church’s overall mission and so I think we can be more specific about the purpose of a chaplain.