IIUT our apostolate is by no 'means merely intellectual. We have a spiritual responsibility towards the whole milieu. These are the days when our apostolate is that of like to like and of community to community: of student to student, and of Catholics in the university to the university at large. We can only win others for Christ if we ourselves are living for Him. The example of a life unsanctimoniously but completely united with Christ is the sine qua non of apostolic action. As a chaplain I should like to say that I believe that a great number of our Catholic students today are doing this in an eminent degree and thus are drawing many souls to God and His Church. And the same may be said of the graduates. But we must not be complacent. There is always more to be done and indeed waiting on our very doorsteps.
In this the individuals are always strengthened by the support of the community. That is why in a number of our universities we have art , Academic Mass on Sundays during term in which we pray for the university itself and all its personnel: that they may seek and find the Truth.
Here is a great corporate act of worship of the whole body. We also have corporate Communions, Benedictions, days and week-ends of recollection, spiritual conferences, joint Rosaries, philosophical and theological study groups. In these latter, it is my experience that splendid guidance has been given by the publications and other arrangements provided by the Catholic Action Service Committee of the national Union of Catholic Students. which is in its turn related to the international Pax Romana. This corporate solidarity is important in every sphere: spiritually, intellectually and socially. And that is why a university chaplaincy is a desideratum everywhere. It has profound effects on the whole life of the university city. For it enables the isolated Catholic to realise that he does not stand alone but has the power of Christendom behind him, and in addition it presents a corporate and unified life to those outside and a security to those within. I have no hesitation in saying that I believe that a chaplaincy centre has profound effects far beyond its immediate clientele. The chaplains who are blessed with them will tell you that they are more than fully occupied and that they arc constantly dealing not only with their own subjects but also with a wider field of general enquiry on a spiritual and intellectual level. Just as St. Paul spoke of the Church which is at Ephesus and the Church which is in Corinth, so under the jurisdiction of the Ordinary and by virtue of the mission from which we constitute the Church which is in the University.