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Appeal for clarity over future of Heythrop


Concerns are growing over the future of Heythrop College, after it was reported that plans for a proposed partnership with Roehampton University may have stalled. A number of academics have written to Cardinal Vincent Nichols appealing for his support to save the 400 year-old institution.

When Heythrop's governing body announced in June 2015, that the College in its current form, as a constituent college of the University of London, would be ending, they said in a statement: "Both the Governors and the Society of Jesus are committed to finding a way in which the mission and work of the College, including the ecclesiastical faculties, will continue in a new form after 2018."

A list of internationally respected theologians and philosophers, including Dr Rowan Williams and Professor Eamon Duffy set out in a letter to the Times in August 2015 the necessity that Heythrop should be saved: "Heythrop is not an institution that can be replaced by anything equal or equivalent to it," they wrote.

Dr John Wilkins, former editor of The Tablet, said: "The closure of Heythrop College after 46 years in London would be a very serious setback for the cause of open and progressive theology taught not just to clergy but to lay people."

Before last June's announcement, the governors of the College, working in close collaboration with the Society of Jesus, had held extended merger talks with St Mary's University, but these did not result in agreement.

According to sources at Heythrop, after these talks: "Eight months of creative and positive discussions" were undertaken with the University of Roehampton, "which concluded that a merger would be both financially viable and academically and pastorally fruitful."

On 4 July, Fr Michael Holman announced plans to step down as principal once a successor has been chosen. His four year term had ended in December. In his letter to the Chair of Governors, Andrew Kennedy, he said that he had originally accepted the post because what personally mattered to him most about Heythrop was its "important work in theology and philosophy as a mission of the Catholic Church and of the Society." He said: "This mission has been fulfilled "with distinction for the past 400 years and not least since it became a member of the University of London."... "In recent years everyone has worked as hard as they could to secure the future of this mission in the new free market of higher education at a time of increased costs and limited income. I can't see that much more could be done! Many models have been explored."

Fr Holman said: "I am of course disajppointed that in my time we have not been able to arrive at a plan that could be agreed by all those that rightly need to agree to it" but he added: "this will open up new opportunities for the intellectual apostolate in a form well suited to the mission of the Church today and to the world of higher education as it now is."

In a letter in the current edition of the Tablet (9 July 2016), a group of Heythrop academics and staff members said: "The Society of Jesus has sought the support of the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster and of the Bishops' Conference of `England and Wales in order to continue the mission of the college." But, they said: " We confidently hoped to receive support for a merger that holds so much promise but there are now signs that this support may not be forthcoming."

The said they were "at a loss to understand why this might be the case, especially given the wholehearted and longstanding support that you have all given to Heythrop College over the past four decades in its current context as a constituent college of the University of London....Senior Academic members of staff have already written to the Cardinal to request his personal support for the proposed merger, and in this present letter members of the staff body are writing to you, the collective body of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, to try to clarify any potential misunderstandings and reassure you on any concerns that may have arisen, especially with regard to the Catholic character of the proposed partnership.

"Within a year the vast majority of staff will be made redundant and steps will begin to sell the property and disperse and dispose of the library.

"Thus the practical consequences of a decision by the Cardinal and the Bishops' Conference not to support the current partnership with the University of Roehampton will effectively be a decision to terminate Heythrop College, bringing to an end a 400 year history, and creating an unbridgeable gap in the provision of Catholic Higher Education in Britain.

"It would be a tragedy with reverberations on the international stage if Heythrop College should be forced to close."

Professor Robert Stern, President of the British Philosophical Association has been a strong supporter of Heythrop. In a letter to Cardinal Nichols this week he wrote: "I was pleased to hear that a partnership with Roehampton was in the process of being established. However, I have just learnt from correspondence in the Tablet that there are serious obstacles in the way.

"There is no clarity about what these are and I think for the sake of transparency that they should be publicised as widely as possible. I hope they are not purely intra-Christian problems because the work of Heythrop College extends far beyond the Christian Church.

"I write as someone who values Heythrop's work in the sphere of philosophy in particular. Without this unique contribution, serious damage will be done to the place of philosophy in the academy. This matter is of concern not just to Christians and theologians, but to everyone who values the contribution that philosophy and theology make in the humanities.

"Heythrop is unique in managing to bring both subjects together successfully. They are already under threat, as is this dialogue between them. We also support the distinction Heythrop makes between ecclesiastical education and more general tertiary education, and also the way in which it brings both together in one institution."

He concluded: "In my view, and that of the BPA, we must therefore make every effort to resist the closure of Heythrop, given the great value of its work in this area. We therefore urge you to do all that you can to facilitate the partnership with Roehampton, as offering the best chance for this work to continue. We are also happy to facilitate this process in any way we can."

In a statement, Cardinal Nichols said: "The future of Heythrop College is inseparable from the priorities of the British Province of the Society of Jesus.

"I have followed all of the negotiations closely and offered further discussions with the Society about its future priorities, among which the continuation of the Bellarmine Institute is, in my view, central."

The Society of Jesus told ICN: "Discussions about the future of Heythrop and the Society of Jesus' ministry in the teaching of Theology and Philosophy are still ongoing. The Society of Jesus remains in touch with the Cardinal and the Bishops' Conference. It would not be appropriate to comment at this stage but a statement will be issued in due course."

A petition can be found here: www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=28171

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