HE WILL TALK TO

600 INSTEAD OF 6,000,000
C.H.' Reporter
GOING to Oxford to succeed M. Valentine Elwes as chaplain to Catholic undergraduates there will almost certainly mean that Fr. Michael Hollings, M.C., whose appointment to this important post was announced lest week, will have to give up his work as religious adviser to Independent Television.
"My work at Oxford will mean talking to 600," he told
me. "But someone has got to talk to the 6,000,000 who watch television. I have almost got into the way of doing this
television job after a year. Now it has got to be handed over to someone else."
The scope of the Catholic chaplain's work at Oxford has increased enormously since he was at St. Catherine's 20 years ago, Fr. Hollings told me. "Then, I think, there may have been perhaps 200 Catholic undergraduates and about half-a-dozen Catholic dons." he said. "Now there are 600 Catholic undergraduates and 60 Catholic dons."
Assistant
Within the last 10 years. during which the numbers of Catholic undergraduates have shot up from 400 to 600, there have also been great changes. The Catholic chaplain has found it necessary to have an assistant priest to hein him in his work.
Ten years ago there were two Masses on Sundays: an early dialogue Mass and the main sung Mass, at which a visiting preacher would give a conference. Now there are three Masses each Sunday, and the preacher delivers his conference both it the 10.15 sung Mass and at the 12.15 dialogue Mass.
In addition. there is now no excuse for undergraduates who want to go to Mass daily but who somehow can't find the time. There are three Masses a day, at 7.40 in the morning, at 12.15 p.m„ and at 5.45 p.m.
New church
A great opportunity for the Church in Oxford is likely to arise while Fr. Hollings is chaplain there. Under the Oxford townplanning scheme, a new road will very probably be built through the St. Ebbe's district where the chaplaincy stands. As it is, the chapel at the chaplaincy is only a Nissen hut, and the sliding doors linking it with the Newman room have to be pulled back on Sundays to make room for all those coming to Mass.
The development scheme will probably mean the building of a University church in the foreseeable future. "This will have to be a building fitting for the Church and for Oxford", said Fr. Hollings.
" It must become a landmark. It must represent the living Church in Oxford. It will, in fact, be the only modern church in Oxford, and probably the only one in St. Ebbe's when it is rebuilt, This could be a tremendous opportunity for the Church."
Apostolate
Besides watching over and guiding the spiritual life of the Catholic undergraduates who come up to Oxford, Fr. Hollings will also head the apostolate in the University. The three or four years a young man or woman spends at Oxford are the time when he or she is making up his or her mind about life and the way it should be lived. It is the one opportunity most young people have of working out what attitude they should adopt towards the world, and it is not surprising that there is a steady stream of undergraduates who want to find out more about this strange thing called the Catholic Church.
Fr. Hollings will have to talk to these undergraduates and begin to explain the Church to them. Usually, if they want to receive formal instruction, he will hand them on to the Dominicans at Blackfriars or the Jesuits at Campion Hall, since a chaplain's time is all too short.
Iron jubilee
On Sunday, his 94th birthday. Mgr. Karl Foltz, of Maria Rosenberg, Germany, celebrated the 70th anniversary of his ordination. To mark this "iron jubilee" Bishop Emanuel of Speyer celebrated Pontifical High Mass, at whin the jubilarian assisted.