TWO CAMBRIDGE SOCIETIES

Catholic Women Students
SIR,—We learn from Miss Toynbee's letter that the local Ordinaries are aware of the existence of Catholic women students at Oxford and Cambridge, and approve of the work being done for them and also that this work has clerical support. We must then accept the fact that Catholic women are not debarred from these universities, but this statement does not imply that the eccleciastical authorities are completely satisfied with the situation. Such a view would be entirely at variance with the attitude of the Holy Sec and the Hierarchy for over forty years.
The sum total of Catholic atmosphere provided for women at Cambridge consists in the activities of two societies, of which more anon, and the friendly interest of two convents, neither of which has any direct contact with university activities and one of which, belonging to an enclosed contemplative order, can do nothing practical (prayer, of course, excepted).
The Margaret Beaufort Society provides conferences to which women students are " invited." What a contrast with the action of the Holy See which, in ordering conferences for the men, made attendance obligatory under pain of sin!
The von Hegel Society can never hope to win any appreciable support from the men; they are already catered for by the Fisher Society and by the several Catholic Action societies organised from the chap laincy. Only three years ago a similar society, although sponsored by that most zealous of men, the late Professor Bullough. died a natural death through lack of support.
As Vice-President of the Fisher Society, I can say that our greatest assets are the possession of a permanent meeting room at Fisher House and the knowledge that the chaplain is always at hand to give his invaluable advice and help. Only under such conditions as these is there any guarantee of permanence for a Catholic society. (The Fisher Society was founded in 1895).
" Oxford Undergraduettc " has stated an unanswerable case for a chaplaincy for women at her university, but, as Miss Toynbec has pointed out, this is not pos sible at Cambridge. If and when such facilities are provided at Oxford, it will surely be impossible for the authorities to tolerate the unfortunate position of Catholic women at Cambridge any longer. The women's societies, with their small numbers and the absence of that official and stable foundation which only a chaplaincy can provide, are such that their very existence is precarious. I do not wish to belittle the very laudable efforts made to meet the women's needs, but the only real solution to the problem, as has always been recognised in the case of the men, is the foundation of a chaplaincy, and energy directed towards other objectives will be found in the long run to have been largely wasted.
PAUL A. TAYLOR. St. John's College, Cambridge.
The Catholic Education Board
SIR,—The question of the university chaplaincies has been discussed lately in the correspondence columns of the Catholic Press. It has again been brought before the Catholic public by the renewed appeal of the Universities Catholic 'Education Board. an appeal to which you have given prominence in your columns and which must be heeded.
The appeal is rightly addressed to every member of the Catholic public who considers university education an essential part of our education programme. The endowment fund has not so far received the support it deserves, and this may perhaps be due to the fact that many members of the Catholic laity consider the policy of the Education Board not wholly suited to the new outlook in University Education. It has been a matter of regret that up to now the schools that sent up undergraduates to Oxford, unless they are of the public school type, are only rarely mentioned, that a blank space almost always appears near the undergraduate's name if his school is a more democratic institution, e.g., a recognised secondary school. It is also a matter of profound regret that the Universities Catholic Education Board does not refer in its annual report to the work undertaken on behalf of Catholic women at our older universities. and as far as can be judged by perusal of this report takes no official cognizance of their spiritual needs.
C. J. VENUS.
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