History
It began in the summer of 1975, in the month of July, when Paul Spellman and I had a serious conversation during the ecumenical conference of university chaplains at Swanwick. Paul was then chaplain to Southampton University and I had just been appointed as one of the chaplains to London University. Our conversation took place as we walked up and down in a field near the conference centre. We were discussing the recent resignation from the clergy of a very talented priest of Portsmouth diocese who was a friend of both of us. We resolved that something had to be done to check the steady exodus of priests who felt that their right to marry had been unjustly abrogated by making it a condition for ordination. I remember the conversation as vividly as if it were yesterday, because it was cut short by our having to jump over the fence, to escape a bull which was running towards us at full speed.
We resumed our conversation later on, and decided to create an organisation basically modelled on the Vernacular Society of Great Britain, of which we had both been members and whose aspirations had been fulfilled by the recently completed Vatican Council. We contacted all the people we could think of and held the first and foundational meeting at More House in West London, a student residence and the base of the university chaplaincy for that region. We were astounded by the numbers and the calibre of the people who attended.
Among the secular priests who came were two outstanding men who had both been prisoners of war. One was Cyril Scarborough of the diocese of Arundel and Brighton. He had been ordained before the war and become an army chaplain in 1939. He was sent to France with the British Expeditionary Force and was caught up in the debacle of June 1940. On the beach at Dunkirk he was offered a place on a boat to England, but he declined, considering it his duty to stay with the soldiers who could not be evacuated. He spent the rest of the war in various prisoner of war camps, including Colditz. For a time he was imprisoned in Berlin, where every Sunday he went round the city’s prison camps to celebrate mass for English prisoners. He remarked to me on one occasion that at the stations and bus terminals of that city everybody stared at him, because of his British uniform (surmounted by the clerical collar) and armed escort. He was also seen by slave labourers from Poland, Czechoslovakia and elsewhere, who looked at him with a gleam of hope in their eyes, because at that period England was the one hope of possible freedom for the whole continent. Cyril Scarborough was elected as our first chairman.
The second remarkable priest was Leo Targett, who is still alive at the time of writing. Before the war he was a professional magician and, after joining the army, was given membership of the Inner Magic Circle. He joined the army in September 1939 and went immediately to France serving in the British Expeditionary Force until June 1940 when, with many others, he came back via Dunkirk. Shortly after he was sent to North Africa and was taken prisoner at Torbruk in June 1942. He spent some time in an Italian concentration camp in the North of Italy, then volunteered to work on a farm, first to build up strength with the extra food and then to escape. By the time he was ready to go British troops had landed in the South of Italy. The escape from the camp was easy, to climb over the Alps was not.
On arrival in Switzerland they were told that they were categorised as ‘Escapees’ and any who could speak German could seek their own billet. He found a room with an old widow who was a devoted Catholic. Leo had not practised as a Catholic since leaving a Catholic school at the age of nine. In the concentration camp, a local priest came in occasionally to celebrate Mass. At Christmas Leo asked if he could receive communion. After making his confession he had a numinous experience and realised that the Lord was calling him to become a priest. When he told the old widow what he would do after getting back to England she was delighted. Every time she went shopping she would pop into the church to visit the Blessed Sacrament and he, of course, went with her, though her visit seemed to last for hours - his devotion was not yet so developed. Her example gradually had its effect on him and he learnt to pray and meditate. After the war he entered a seminary and was ordained in June 1952. As well as ordinary diocesan work he also spent several years in Peru.
With those two priests on board, and other distinguished members, (like John and Mary Howard who were active in the Catholic Marriage Advisory Council) the Movement’s future was assured. It could never be dismissed as the hair-brained scheme of irresponsible young priests.
Michael M Winter
We resumed our conversation later on, and decided to create an organisation basically modelled on the Vernacular Society of Great Britain, of which we had both been members and whose aspirations had been fulfilled by the recently completed Vatican Council. We contacted all the people we could think of and held the first and foundational meeting at More House in West London, a student residence and the base of the university chaplaincy for that region. We were astounded by the numbers and the calibre of the people who attended.
Among the secular priests who came were two outstanding men who had both been prisoners of war. One was Cyril Scarborough of the diocese of Arundel and Brighton. He had been ordained before the war and become an army chaplain in 1939. He was sent to France with the British Expeditionary Force and was caught up in the debacle of June 1940. On the beach at Dunkirk he was offered a place on a boat to England, but he declined, considering it his duty to stay with the soldiers who could not be evacuated. He spent the rest of the war in various prisoner of war camps, including Colditz. For a time he was imprisoned in Berlin, where every Sunday he went round the city’s prison camps to celebrate mass for English prisoners. He remarked to me on one occasion that at the stations and bus terminals of that city everybody stared at him, because of his British uniform (surmounted by the clerical collar) and armed escort. He was also seen by slave labourers from Poland, Czechoslovakia and elsewhere, who looked at him with a gleam of hope in their eyes, because at that period England was the one hope of possible freedom for the whole continent. Cyril Scarborough was elected as our first chairman.
The second remarkable priest was Leo Targett, who is still alive at the time of writing. Before the war he was a professional magician and, after joining the army, was given membership of the Inner Magic Circle. He joined the army in September 1939 and went immediately to France serving in the British Expeditionary Force until June 1940 when, with many others, he came back via Dunkirk. Shortly after he was sent to North Africa and was taken prisoner at Torbruk in June 1942. He spent some time in an Italian concentration camp in the North of Italy, then volunteered to work on a farm, first to build up strength with the extra food and then to escape. By the time he was ready to go British troops had landed in the South of Italy. The escape from the camp was easy, to climb over the Alps was not.
On arrival in Switzerland they were told that they were categorised as ‘Escapees’ and any who could speak German could seek their own billet. He found a room with an old widow who was a devoted Catholic. Leo had not practised as a Catholic since leaving a Catholic school at the age of nine. In the concentration camp, a local priest came in occasionally to celebrate Mass. At Christmas Leo asked if he could receive communion. After making his confession he had a numinous experience and realised that the Lord was calling him to become a priest. When he told the old widow what he would do after getting back to England she was delighted. Every time she went shopping she would pop into the church to visit the Blessed Sacrament and he, of course, went with her, though her visit seemed to last for hours - his devotion was not yet so developed. Her example gradually had its effect on him and he learnt to pray and meditate. After the war he entered a seminary and was ordained in June 1952. As well as ordinary diocesan work he also spent several years in Peru.
With those two priests on board, and other distinguished members, (like John and Mary Howard who were active in the Catholic Marriage Advisory Council) the Movement’s future was assured. It could never be dismissed as the hair-brained scheme of irresponsible young priests.
Michael M Winter