Two groups of senior academics have written to the Tablet expressing their concern over the breakdown of talks on the future of Heythrop College.
It was announced in June last year that the Jesuit-run college would cease to exist in its present form as a constituent college of the University of London in 2018, for financial reasons.
Heythrop, which has a 400-year history beginning in Belgium, became a specialist theology and philosophy college of the University of London in 1971.
Discussions about a partnership with the University of Roehampton in south-west London broke down earlier this month over concerns about the Bellarmine Institute, the ecclesiastical faculties at Heythrop which offer teaching to seminarians and priestly candidates. Concerns arose because of the pontifical status of qualifications from the Bellarmine Institute, within a secular university.
Academics who have served as president of the Catholic Theological Association of Great Britain, including Professor Eamon Duffy, wrote of their “great concern” over the breakdown of talks. “The disappearance of Heythrop would not only deprive Catholics of an irreplaceable educational resource, but would send a deeply negative signal about the Church’s withdrawal from intellectual engagement in conversations about meaning and value conducted in the public sphere of the wider academy,” they wrote.
In a separate letter, academics working in university departments of theology, including former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Williams of Oystermouth, wrote: “Without the unique contribution of Heythrop, the great tradition of Catholic Christianity in which theology and philosophy coexist in a creative partnership will be severely diminished – and we will all be the losers.”
Pilgrims and festival-goers aren’t so different, says priest
Pilgrims at World Youth Day are just like music festival-goers: both “step out of their comfort zone to embrace new experiences, mud and all”, according to Fr Christopher Jamison, director of the National Office for Vocation in England and Wales. Fr Jamison was offering his “Pause for Thought” on the Chris Evans Show on BBC Radio 2.Fr Jamison observed that the festival season was underway, and that Glastonbury is the biggest of the festivals, with 175,000 people attending each years.“Well, I’m off to an even bigger festival,” Fr Jamison said. “This weekend 600,000 young people will head to Kraków ... This is World Youth Day, when the Pope invites young people to join him in a celebration of faith, hope and love. Now of course this isn’t a rock festival, it’s a pilgrimage, but the streets are filled with music and performances so that Kraków will definitely rock next week.”
Fr Jamison concluded: In a time when disharmony is all too evident in the world, next week a million people in Poland will be a sign of harmony.”
Charity founder joins St Mary’s
Margaret Mizen has been installed as Pro-Chancellor of St Mary’s University, Twickenham.Since the murder of her 16-year-old son Jimmy in 2008, Mrs Mizen has set up the charity For Jimmy and has worked with young people across the country sharing her son’s story in schools, prisons and youth offending institutes.
She said the appointment was a “great honour”.
