St Marys University ViceChancellor to give Chaplaincy Lecture in silver jubilee year
British diplomat and academic Francis Campbell will deliver this year’s Chaplaincy Lecture.
The lecture, 'Faith and Education – Challenges and Contributions’ will be delivered by Mr Campbell, Vice-Chancellor of St Mary's University, Twickenham, and a former British Ambassador to the Holy See, on Friday 10 March 2017 in the Rattray Lecture Theatre at 5.30pm.
The Chaplaincy Lecture has been an annual feature of the University's calendar dating back almost to the opening of the Gatehouse Chaplaincy Centre in October 1991.
Father David Rocks, Roman Catholic chaplain to the University of Leicester, said: “This academic year is the 25th anniversary of the Chaplaincy and the annual lecture is an important date in our calendar.
“We are therefore very pleased to welcome Francis Campbell who is the first Vice-Chancellor to be appointed at St Mary's University after it was granted university status in 2014.
“The lecture is free and open to all and we welcome everyone to join us in our silver jubilee year.”
Before taking up his role as Vice-Chancellor at the University of St Mary’s, Mr Campbell was Head of the Policy Unit in the FCO and Director of Innovation at UK Trade and Investment from 2013 to 2014.
From 2011 to 13 he served as Deputy High Commissioner in Pakistan. He was British Ambassador to the Holy See from 2005 to 2011. From 1999 to 2003, he served on the staff of the then Prime Minister Tony Blair, first as a Policy Adviser in the No10 Policy Unit, and then as a Private Secretary to the Prime Minister. Francis has worked at the United Nations Security Council in New York, the European Union, the FCO, and in Italy. He is a columnist for Catholic weekly newspaper The Tablet and is also a regular contributor to the BBC Radio 4’s Thought For The Day.