Given on 13 March 2025 at the Mass of Installation for Mgr Paul McPartlan as the new Rector of Mater Ecclesiae College.
This evening, we look backwards in an act of thanksgiving for the first five years of Mater Ecclesiae College and look forwards in an act of hope towards the future of the College. We thank God for the service of Mgr. Rod Strange as Rector of Mater Ecclesiae College during these first five years of the College in its present incarnation. Dating back to 1614, The Ecclesiastical Faculties have enjoyed periods of flourishing but also times of being dormant. The new reality of Mater Ecclesiae College under the authority of the Catholic Bishops of England & Wales and in relationship with St. Mary’s University, Twickenham from 2019 was made more difficult by COVID, settling into a new location, and the challenges of change.
We thank God for the gifts that Mgr. Rod has brought to Mater Ecclesiae College, his gentle guidance, the patient steps of building wider networks, and especially his love and scholarship for the life and holiness of Saint John Henry Newman from whom he takes his strength and understanding of Catholic education.
We now pray, beseeching God in fervent prayer like Queen Esther, for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the next steps under the leadership of the newly appointed Rector, Mgr. Paul McPartlan. We welcome formally Mgr. Paul who takes his profession of faith, oath of fidelity and upon whom the canonical mission is conferred. It is a sign of the sacred office for the service of the Church whose subject is Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life.
In the introduction to the Apostolic Constitution Veritatis Gaudium, Pope Francis summons university and college faculties to find new ways of engaging with contemporary culture. He writes, ‘The primary need today is for the whole People of God to be ready to embark upon a new stage of ‘Spirit-filled’ evangelization… In this process, a fitting renewal of the system of ecclesiastical studies plays a strategic role... These studies, in fact, are called to offer opportunities and processes for the suitable formation of priests, consecrated men and women, and committed lay people.’ This is our aim at Mater Ecclesiae College as we interpret the new reality brought about by Christ and nourished by the Holy Spirit for the sake of the mission of the Church. We help form priests for the future in cooperation with Allen Hall and lay people for mission.
The Church is summoned to go forth into the world. She brings her understanding of the truth of Christ into a culture which is marked by anthropological, technological and environmental crises. The human person is often no longer the subject at the heart of a network of relationships which respects human dignity.
Veritatis Gaudium (The Joy of Truth) presents four aspects of a new horizon which shapes the mission of Mater Ecclesiae College.
First, I quote ‘the most urgent and enduring criterion is that of contemplation and presentation of a spiritual, intellectual and existential introduction to the heart of the kerygma, namely the ever fresh and attractive good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which continues to take flesh in the life of the Church and of humanity.’ This task needs a theology on its knees as it communicates the truths of the Faith to others, not only at an intellectual level, but at a personal level which opens minds and hearts to one’s neighbour, especially the poorest and weakest.
Second, Veritatis Gaudium encourages an exploration of the truth of Jesus Christ in a community which lives the joy of the truth and appreciates more fully its meaning and the practical implications. We are called to create a ‘culture of encounter’ with others to penetrate more fully the truth of human living in the light of the God’s creation. We offer to others the leaven, salt and light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the living Tradition of the Church.
Third, this encounter invites an interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary approach to research carried out with wisdom and creativity in the light of Revelation. Christian theology recognises the unity of all knowledge and respects the various sciences which explore this Truth. Encounter between disciplines can help all students to see the place of each science within the whole. As St John Henry Newman says, “each student ought to know just where he and his science stand; he has come to it as it were, from a height; he has taken a survey of all knowledge”. In an increasingly fragmented world, there is need for a perspective which restores the unity of content. Mater Ecclesiae College in relationship with St. Mary’s University provides a very rich context for this exchange between schools, faculty and students.
Fourth the Apostolic Exhortation calls for networking between institutions dedicated to common aims. I recall that at the first meeting with the then Congregation for Education, the urgency of this task was stated. The Holy See hopes that we would find a way to reach out into Northern Europe and be a beacon for excellence for spreading the light and hope of Jesus Christ.
May Mary Mother of the Church guide us and pray for us.