Well it is for four months - all that UCC can grant me at the moment while the Chaplaincy is reviewed or whatever they're doing. Still it is four months and hopefully they will see sense and extend that to a proper contract.
It's different from second level anyway! I am working alongside a Dominican Fr. David Barrins and we get on well even though we are probably opposites in nearly everything except our love for the Catholic faith - a bit like left hand and right. So after so many years as the only priest in a school I am the other Catholic priest in a University. Between us we are continuing a tradition of inter-order co-operation going back to our roots in the Middle Ages. This was re-established by my fellow Capuchin Br. Richard Hendrick and Fr. David in the previous chaplaincy team.
Work wise there are many differences from second level. There are no bells and I have no classes to teach but there are more meetings and more conversations, debates and even arguments. There are more evening events and I get to pray and offer Mass in the Honan Chapel (whose new website will soon be up and very nice it is too). The students are generally a little older than the eldest students I used to work with and often represent the brightest of their age group - after all they are at university. It's great to be involved not just with young adults but young adults who love the faith and want to live and understand it even if I am regularly unintentionally reminded that I am getting older!
Hopefully, with the grace of God, whatever days of ministry here in UCC are granted to me will bear fruit in the long run. Everything is in the hand of God and all will be well.
