We were privileged to be joined by Father James today as he co-celebrated Mass in the Abbey Church on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception with Father Michael this morning. On 1st November, he reached the significant landmark of fifty years as a monk and on 29th November he celebrated his seventieth birthday. There can be have been few people who have given more to our school community or exerted greater influence on it than him.
Pupils gave Father James cards and the Common Room donated a goat (named Father James) through CAFOD to a village in the developing world.
Mr Hobbs paid tribute to Father James and his life at Downside: “We are privileged to have been joined today by someone to whom every one of us has good reason to be grateful. There can have been few people who have given more to our school community or exerted a greater influence on it than him and he has recently reached two important milestones, which deserve recognition, so I am very grateful to Father Michael for giving me a moment to speak about him.
Born in 1953, he attended Downside as a pupil. He left the School in 1972, only to return a year later but this time swapping the pin stripe trousers for a black habit, as he became a novice of the community of St. Gregory. You don’t have to be a mathematical genius to recognise the significance then of the year 2023 in the life of Father James, who is of course the person of whom I am speaking. In November he reached the significant landmark of fifty years as a monk and then on the 29th November he celebrated his seventieth birthday.
Fifty years is a highly significant commitment, all the more so in that Father James made it at the age of nineteen! As we gather here today in this beautiful Abbey Church we owe a huge debt of gratitude to Father James and his brethren. This building is not a museum or a concert hall, where we come to spectate or assemble as an audience. These walls are soaked in the prayers of those who have lived and worked at Downside for generations, and most especially the monks. We are the recipients of their extraordinary legacy and it is our privilege and our duty to steward that legacy and pass it on to future generations. And all the evidence is that it will do us good, if Father James is anything to go by. Looking at him it’s hard to believe he’s reached his fiftieth birthday let alone his seventieth!
As many of you will remember, Father James was deservedly awarded the Old Gregorian Medal in July 2022 in recognition of his extraordinary service to our school. He served the School for more than forty years as a teacher, a House Master, the Bursar, the Chaplain and the Master of Ceremonies in the Abbey Church. I have undoubtedly missed some things out but, whatever role he was given, he performed to the very best of his ability, with absolute commitment and unwavering loyalty. He is the author of much that we take for granted in the culture of our school community today. He played a vital role in cultivating and strengthening the School’s relationship with the Manquehue Apostolic Movement in Chile and really drove the development of Lectio Divina.
Lectio Divina, along with spiritual mentoring and friendship, is now at the heart of the school community at Downside thanks in large part to Dom James’ vision and leadership of the Chaplaincy. His caring presence and constant encouragement, accompanying pupils and staff in their journey through Downside helped them to recognise the importance of the faith which lies at the centre of the community and to engage with it. I repeat what I said on Prize Day in July of 2022 when we bid him farewell: ‘Father James is a contagious Christian whose authority comes from the fact that his actions match his words, but unlike other contagions we will continue to encourage the spread of the epidemic for which he was responsible!’ Even though he and his brethren are no longer living here at Downside their prayers continue to soak this place. Please let us follow their example with our prayers in support of this community and for the monks not just whilst we are here at school but also in our lives beyond Downside.
Thank you, Father James and congratulations. Generations of Gregorians have been and will continue to be grateful to you. We are delighted and privileged to have you with us this weekend.”
