'But that was community': the religious foundation at a Catholic higher education institution

Trinity and All Saints Colleges were established in 1966 as a pair of teacher-training colleges for women and men respectively. What has since become Leeds Trinity University (LTU) was funded by the Catholic Education Council and the Sisters of the Cross and Passion, making its Catholic foundation integral. However, over the years these ties have loosened. This article argues, using interviews from a recent 50th anniversary oral history project, that LTU’s Catholicism has shifted from a public role (inclusive of all who were willing to participate) to a more private role. The article pays particular attention to interviewees’ use of the connective ‘but’, showing how it exposes mixed feelings about the interrelationship of Catholic inclusion and exclusion.