Diversity at Middlesbrough College
10 February 2010

Leaders from the Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Methodist and Catholic faiths were joined by Bishop of Whitby Martin Warner to welcome Father Ben Archibald and Deacon Jane Gibson to Middlesbrough College, and pledge their support for the pair.

Bishop Martin Warner said education is the key to unlocking “a new world” for young people, and the chaplains will enrich the students’ experience at the college if they remain visible and approachable.

Fr Archibald, 26, described how he grew up on a tough council estate in Scotland, where “education didn’t mean much to anyone” and it was while still a teenager and studying computer networking that he found his calling.

He told those present: “This is where the work really begins. For this chaplaincy to work we really need your help and support. We are looking to you for encouragement and help.”

The college hopes that the Multifaith Chaplaincy will become an example of best practice for the rest of the country.

Deacon Jane Gibson, a mum, foster mum, and grandmother, said: “It’s challenging, exciting, new, and fresh, and I’m thrilled to be a part of it.”

Father Len Collings, chaplain at St Mary’s College, Middlesbrough, was one of those to offer support.

He said: “I know from my work as chaplain to St Mary’s College just how challenging and rewarding such work is.

“Colleges have a unique opportunity to be a community, to cultivate a sense of belonging and mutual respect which may sometimes be hard to identify in a society today.

“We are all very different, but equally all the same, and this is an important point to make, it is our diversity that makes the human race so special and unique, it is that diversity that should be the cause of celebration and not conflict.”

John Hogg, college principal, said the chaplains would enable students to explore their faith within the socially inclusive environment of the college.