Rochester Theological College, 1959-1970
/Canon S. L. S. Allen explores the history of Rochester Theological College. Extract from The Friends of Rochester Cathedral Annual Report for 1970.
The inspiration for Rochester Theological College came fiom Bishop Christopher Chavasse. Tradition has it that when the Old Deanery was, not unreasonably, pronounced unsuitable as a home for two the Bishop seized the opportunity, for which he had been looking, to turn it into a College. It is appropriate that a splendid photograph of him should preside imperially from the dining room wall with the miniatures of his numerous decorations framed beneath.
The task of setting up the College as first Warden was added by Bishop Stannard to his duties as Dean and the foundations were so well laid that throughout its history the relationship between the College and Cathedral has been entirely happy. Our men have trained in the context of worship. Canon Butler-one of the local clergy who have helped the College from an early stage once told me: "Each generation of students has its own beef, but I have never heard anyone complain about the association of the College with the Cathedral." This is not the least triumph of grace for which it is right to return thanks.
Also in at the beginning and continuing during the first vital years was the Revd. Alan Robson, then a minor canon of the cathedral, and he made an indispensable contribution to the character of the community.
The College opened for Advent Term, 1959 (the tenth anniversary being celebrated with wine at dinner on October 15th, 1969). There were thirteen students. But already the Bishop was looking forward to the appointment of a full-time Warden and in a letter to the Dean he unfolded his hope that "with the added help of the Dean and Chapter we shall be giving our men a better and more competent staff than most colleges with three or four tutors for sixty men".
Rochester has from the first rather specialised in "older students"; but this term is open to misunderstanding unless it is more closely defined. Amalder proper is one over forty years of age and he is exempted from the requirements of the General Ordination Examination. A man between thirty and forty is excused Greek (though in fact we have always taught it) and a few other papers, but for the most part he is required to pass the same examination as younger men. It is for these "middle-men" that Rochester has sought to provide. When it is realised that younger men may proceed to Theological College and G.O.E. straight from school and university while a man under forty could easily have been away from school and academic work for twenty years the scope of Rochester's vocation becomes apparent.
Men have come to the College from a rich variety of backgrounds. We have had a Master Mariner, an Instructor in Parachute Jumping, R.A.F. (complete with M.B.E.), several soldiers, ranging from bandsman to field officer in rank, schoolmasters, civil servants shopkeepers, commercial travellers, builders . . . and a couple of clergy from the Church in Africa. At all events, we have never been stuck for aptitude when a job needed to be done! More fortunate than these when it came to theological academics were the Free Church ministers, Baptist, Methodist and Congregational, who were in process of being Anglicised, though they had various liturgical adjustments to encompass. Perhaps most fortunate of all were the Church Army captains who had been introduced to Theology and now found opportunity to carry their studies further.
The first full-time Warden (this, by the way, is a slightly euphemistic title for a member of the Cathedral Chapter) was Canon Stuart Blanch who assumed office for the Advent Term of 1960 and who, until his consecration for the Bishopric of Liverpool in February 1966, guided the College's life with his own distinguished blend of learning, piety and elegance. His task was no sinecure. Nor was it exclusively intellectual. As numbers increased (which they did steadily) furnishing became a matter of urgency; the more so as financial resources were virtually nil. The problem was solved by the generosity of College Friends and by the imagination and initiative (we will' leave it at thatl) of students and staff, Living accommodation in the Old Deanery was, of course, strictly limited and eventually students were quartered in the Bishopscourt Flat; 80 High Street; the Friars; the old St. Margaret's Vicarage in Watts Avenue (this being used by some of the married students and their families)-as well as with several neighbouring families. In one way and another the College made its presence felt.
Most of the men came for two years, i.e., for six terms of ten weeks. Those who were able to spend a third year had an enormous advantage and were sometimes able to take University Diplomas or External Degrees. But- -as every student now has inscribed about his heart-_ "There's more to it than the G.O.E." Theological competence is a sine qua non in the work of the ministry, but the priest must also be a man of prayer and worship and the student has to be steeped in these exercises of grace. Further, he must be able to relate theological principle to individual and parochial needs. To this end the College has drawn very gratefully on the help of local clergy, the men helping (and being helped) in the churches and institutions. In these ways they gained a good deal of background pastoral experience. But it was not wholly romantic. There was the student who on his first visit to H.M. Borstal was greeted by a resident with the advice that he would "just as soon carve him up as look at him"! Though temporarily traumatic, the outcome was, by the grace of God, a relationship of genuine regard and warmth.
Alan Robson left in 1964 to join the staff of Norwich Teacher Training College and was succeeded been bill die end n cars Readin Bay Scaler sho had Stuart Blanch, Ray Selby brought to his new role a first class degree in Theology; and he was a trained teacher. As numbers of students increased it became possible to expand the staff and in 1965 the Revd. Gordon O'Loughlin was brought in from the parish of St. Barnabas, Tunbridge Wells, to serve as Tutor and Chaplain. Besides the full-time staff and the Cathedral Chapter, the Revd. David Cox used to come in from Chatham to teach Ethics and Psychology and the Revd. Laurie Ford (who, it was rumoured, had taught himself Greek on top of a bus) came to teach Biblical languages.
Bishop Chavasse had been succeeded both as Diocesan and as Chairman of the College Council by Bishop David Say in February, 1961, and the early years of his episcopate saw a time of exhilarating development for the College. By 1965, sharing in the general "boom" of Anglican ordinands, Rochester's numbers had soared to forty-eight and, in common with other colleges, expansion was in the air. Early in 1966, leaving a very full house, Stuart Blanch was consecrated for Liverpool and Ray Selby was left to sustain the interregnum. In June of that year I visited the College for the first time for the opening of its extension, which included a fine new library.
Unfortunately, I inherited only six new men. For the first year this was scarcely significant and the College remained some three dozen strong. But by University and been succeeded as Sub-Warden by Gordon O'Loughlin) the "boom" had become a general "slump". (The examination of this phenomenon lies outside the scope of this article.) Numbers were down to twenty-two. In November of that year the College underwent a quinquennial inspection by representatives of the Advisory Council for the Church's Ministry. For three days three inspectors examined everything from the petty cash and the kitchen sink to lectures, tutorials and records. Their seport sica incouraging the action , , he - она, b. College "a happy ship"
But clouds were gathering. Disconcerted by the general decline of numbers the College Principals had pressed the Archbishop of Canterbury to appoint a committee to examine the situation and advise on a solution. The sequal was the de Bunsen Report with its recommendation of colleges of a hundred and twenty students (twice the size of any existing college) associated with Universities. The Report went further in making specific suggestions for specific colleges and gave its opinion that there should no longer be separate colleges for the training of older men.
Quite apart from the continuing decline in the numbers of men coming forward for training this Report was bound to have a critical effect on applications to the College. Yet, besides the men who began in October 1967, a number had already been accepted to commence training in 1968, and in the autumn of that year the Bishop and the Council took the crucial decision that these men would, as they had been promised, be seen through. Thus, with a community of ten- -Gordon O'Loughlin having left in December 1969 for the parish of St. Alban, Hull--we come into the home straight; preparing to finish eucharistically on Friday 26th June 1970.
Clearly this brief record can offer only the barest outline of College history. Those who wish to know more of the quality of its life . . . its worship in the Trinity Chapel of the Cathedral crypt; its feilowship at table and in the Common Room, at croquet and bowls on the lawn under the blue sky of a summer evening; the points of "break-through" as study, prayer and sacrament have led men to a new, more vital knowledge of God . .. for these things you must speak to clergy who wear Rochester hoods of crimson and gold.
Now, like the writer to the Hebrews, I fear that "time would fail me" to tell of Alison Strange and her faithful domestic staff; of the long-suffering Joyce Crittenden, diligent at typewriter and telephone; of the sagacious Archdeacon Harland, assisted by Philip Tyrrell, in ordering the financial afiairs of our enter-prise. And because our men will be leading the prayers and praises of God's people we have drawn very gratefully upon the especial skills of Mrs. Jane Ward, Canon Stanley Hoffman and Dr. Robert Ashfield.
This honours list is not exhaustive and I trust that those whom I should like to mention but must perforce omit will condone the concentration imposed by the scale of this exercise. May I just note that my brethren of the Cathedral Chapter, Canons Gripper and Welsby, both men of academic distinction, have lectured and tutored regularly without remuneration of any kind and this has always struck me as a particular act of generosity.
So Rochester Theological College passes into the history of the Church of England- and the Kingdom of God. It has contributed over one hundred and eighty men to the Anglican Ministry. Perhaps the Archbishop of Canterbury, in a very kind letter, reaches a conclusion which need not be restricted to the particular candidate being discussed: " ... he has been given much by his time at Rochester, and you and the College have certainly helped him greatly in the use of his powers."
May God accept and prosper to His glory the work which, in laying down, we humbly offer to Him.
Canon S. L. S. Allen
The Friends of Rochester Cathedral were founded to help finance the maintenance of the fabric and grounds. The Friends’ annual reports have become a trove of articles on the fabric and history of the cathedral.
Canons, colleagues, volunteers and staff have shared their memories and reflections in many forms over the years.
