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2021-12-31-accounts

Mater Ecclesiae College

Charity Trustees’ Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2021

Registered Charity No: 1186431

Contents

Pages
Charity Trustees 2
Governance and Management 2
Explanation of the Work of the CIO 3
Activities 3
Achievements and Performance 4
Financial Review 4 - 5
Plans for Future Years 5
Declaration 5
Independent Examiners Report 6
Receipts and Payments Account 7
Statement of Assets & Liabilities 8
Statement of Accounting Policies 9
Notes to the Receipts and Payments Account 10

Mater Ecclesiae College P a g e | 1

Registered Charity No: 1186431

Mater Ecclesiae College

Charity Trustees’ Annual Report for the year ending 31 December 2021

Charity Trustees

The charity trustees are pleased to present the report of Mater Ecclesiae College (referenced later as the CIO) which was registered as charity number 1186431 on 19 November 2019. The registered office is at St Mary’s University, Waldegrave Road, Twickenham, TW1 4SX.

The CIO was formed to advance the Catholic religion for the benefit of the public, by:

a) Conducting the Ecclesiastical Faculties of Theology and Philosophy founded by the English Province of the Society of Jesus (The Jesuits) in Leuven in 1614 and transferred from Heythrop College to St Mary's University on 17 July 2019;

b) Conducting any other ecclesiastical faculties that may be erected in addition to the ecclesiastical faculties mentioned in (a) above, whether as an ecclesiastical university or otherwise;

c) Providing such other education and formation as is incidental to the objects set out in (a) and (b) above.

The Charity Trustees for the whole of the period were as follows:

The Most Revd Bernard Longley The Right Revd Professor Charles Roderick Strange The Revd Dr Simon George Gaine OP The Right Revd John Francis Sherrington The Most Revd George Stack Professor Gavin Gregory D’Costa The Most Revd Malcolm Patrick McMahon OP The Most Revd John Wilson

(On 20 June 2022, after the reporting period, but before the approval of this Report and Accounts, The Most Reverend Mark O’Toole became Archbishop of Cardiff and replaced the Right Reverend George Stack as an ex-officio Charity Trustee.)

Governance and Management

The governing document of the charity is the Mater Ecclesiae College Constitution adopted by the charity trustees in August 2019, which became recognised by the Charity Commission when the Charitable Incorporated Organisation was registered on 19 November 2019. The Charity Trustees are the Governing Body of the Ecclesiastical Faculties of Theology and Philosophy conducted by the CIO under the canonical Statutes of the Faculties made by the Governing Body and approved by the Holy See.

Under the Statutes made by the Governing Body, operational details are delegated to the College’s Operational Board, which meets 3 times each academic year.

The Charity Trustees work entirely on a voluntary basis.

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Registered Charity No: 1186431

Explanation of the Work of the CIO

Mater Ecclesiae College, the Pontifical Athenaeum based at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, opened at St Mary’s in autumn 2019. Mater Ecclesiae College CIO is the latest civil incarnation of the Ecclesiastical Faculties of Theology and Philosophy founded by the English Province of the Society of Jesus (The Jesuits) in Leuven in 1614. Known most recently as the Bellarmine Institute, it had been a part of Heythrop College, a chartered college within the University of London. The Jesuits’ decision to close Heythrop as a College of the University of London was finalised in 2018, when students who had been studying for civil degrees there completed their courses.

With the closure of Heythrop College, it became urgent to re-locate the Ecclesiastical Faculties of Theology and Philosophy to St Mary’s University as Mater Ecclesiae College, in order to continue the intellectual formation of the students at Allen Hall, the seminary of the Archdiocese of Westminster.

Activities

The main activities of the CIO are:

Firstly, to provide opportunities for the study, teaching, and research of Theology and Philosophy in a way that promotes a more profound knowledge and understanding of Christian revelation, and of those matters connected with it; to enunciate systematically the truths contained therein; to consider in the light of revelation the most recent progress of the sciences and to present them effectively to the people of today.

Secondly, to provide students with an education in Catholic doctrine in the first, second, and third cycles (baccalaureate, licence and doctorate); to prepare them to carry out their future tasks effectively and to provide for the continuing education of the ministers of the Church.

Thirdly, to collaborate closely in the work of evangelisation with the hierarchy and with the local and universal Church.

Fourthly, to establish fruitful collaboration with other Ecclesiastical faculties and with nonEcclesiastical faculties and centres of Theology and Philosophy.

Under the arrangements with St Mary’s University, Twickenham, students will typically study a civil Bachelor’s Degree in Theology (‘BA (Hons) in Theological Studies’) awarded by St Mary’s, and also a Sacrae Theologiae Baccalaureus or Bachelor in Sacred Theology (‘STB’) which is awarded by Mater Ecclesiae College.

When Mater Ecclesiae opened for the new academic year last September, all its students were living under one roof at Allen Hall. The closure of St John’s Seminary, Wonersh, while a cause of understandable sadness, had been accomplished with impressive graciousness by Canon Gerald Ewing and the staff and community. Mater Ecclesiae is in their debt. However, bringing these students together in Chelsea has created obvious benefits, making it possible more readily to provide intellectual formation in a unified way. While many courses continue to be taught at Allen Hall, the students also attended lectures at St Mary’s campus each Thursday and appreciated the opportunity to meet and mix with St Mary’s undergraduates who were taking similar courses.

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Registered Charity No: 1186431

Achievements and Performance

Since the opening of Mater Ecclesiae in 2019, there have been 33 graduates. As this year began, 25 students were studying for the joint STB and BA in Theology, there were 13 other visiting students, topping up or auditing what they were already working on, and there were 4 others studying for the STB. Altogether, therefore, there were 42 students enrolled and 70 courses being delivered by 28 lecturers. They come from the dioceses of Westminster, Southwark, Arundel and Brighton, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Brentwood, and Clifton, and there are religious who are Norbertines, Redemptorists, Oratorians, and Vincentians. The student body also includes men from Cardiff and from the Society of the Divine Word (Societas Verbi Divini). This year twelve of them will graduate in September.

There has also been some encouraging news from Hong Kong. A lay student has made contact, inquiring about the possibility of studying at Mater Ecclesiae for an STB. How the political situation may complicate that remains to be seen. But it is a valuable sign. It is also important that staff, lecturing as they do to students at St Mary’s as well as Mater Ecclesiae, are alert to those who might be interested in acquiring an STB as well as their BA in Theology. The Congregation for Catholic Education is consistently enthusiastic about the possibility of lay people, women and men, being students of the Institute. It is important that Mater Ecclesiae spreads its wings.

Spreading wings, of course, means working together and Fr Javier Ruiz-Ortiz, whose appointment as Dean of Theology at Mater Ecclesiae has now been confirmed at Rome, has worked energetically with Dr Jacob Phillips, the Director of the Institute of Theology and Liberal Arts, and his associate, Dr Jeremy Pilch. They have been meeting regularly. With regard to Philosophy, for example, they have been discussing the possibility of offering an integrated one year course, enabling students to acquire 120 credits in the single year. Developing a Faculty of Philosophy at Mater Ecclesiae is something to which attention must soon be given. There are at present three men at Allen Hall studying philosophy, but not directly as students of Mater Ecclesiae. Their work is necessary for them to acquire the STB in due course.

It is encouraging as well to find that St Mary’s Institute of Theology and Liberal Arts came fourth in The Guardian Guide for Theology and Religious Studies which is a cause for real celebration, indicating the hope of good prospects for the future. Recruitment also appears to be encouraging. Who knows how many of those coming might be attracted by the possibility of receiving an ecclesiastical as well as a civil degree.

Financial Review

Whilst Mater Ecclesiae College is an independent institution, it has a collaboration arrangement with St Mary’s University, Twickenham. Under this arrangement, the teaching is arranged by St Mary’s and much teaching takes place on the premises of St Mary’s University.

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Registered Charity No: 1186431

Financial Review (continued)

A Service Arrangement exists between the CIO and St Mary’s, and there is a charge of £50,000 plus VAT per annum to the CIO, for the University’s provision of the following services:

The College’s students are permitted to have access to library facilities at Allen Hall Seminary.

The charges are reviewed on an annual basis and may be increased to reflect the scale of costs, activity levels and inflation.

Management and transactional accounting for the CIO is carried out by St Mary’s Finance Department. The charity trustees are grateful to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England & Wales for providing funding for the above costs.

During the year ended 31 December 2021, the entirety of the College’s income was paid to St Marys University by way of the agreed service charge, with all the running costs of the college being covered by the University. The College therefore had £nil net receipts or payments during this period.

The College did not have its own bank account during this period, and it had no assets nor liabilities as at the period end.

Reserves policy

The CIO is in the early years of its formation, with its activities being funded by a donation from Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England & Wales, received via the Catholic Trust for England and Wales. The trustees will develop a meaningful reserves policy in the next few years.

Plans for Future Years

Plans continue to begin a Faculty of Canon Law. They have been hindered to a degree by the serious illness of one of the key players in this enterprise. More immediately, the intention is to offer a Diploma in Civil Law, beginning now in January, to those who already have a Licentiate in Canon Law. Two canon lawyers have been working on this, one of whom has experience of such a programme, delivering it at the University of Leuven. A cohort of lawyers with this double qualification, civil and ecclesiastical, would be invaluable, especially when, as is anticipated, a National Tribunal can be established to assist with the handling of issues regarding safeguarding. Judicial Vicars in the Dioceses of England and Wales have been contacted in the hope that they will form an initial cohort. We look forward to this plan developing and coming to further fruition in a future Faculty of Canon Law.

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Registered Charity No: 1186431

Graduation

One casualty of the pandemic has been the failure to celebrate the establishment of Mater Ecclesiae at St Mary’s University with a public ‘launch’ event. Plans have been made, but always thwarted by the pandemic. This September the Institute begins its fourth academic year. To hold a launch now might seem eccentric. However, after these three past years there will be a cohort who have completed all their studies for their degree at Mater Ecclesiae. Plans have been made for a graduation ceremony in St Mary’s Chapel on 16 September at which the twelve in that group will graduate in the presence of the Chancellor, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, and all those who have completed their studies at Mater Ecclesiae in the two previous years will also be invited to attend and receive their certificates. Afterwards there will be a reception and buffet dinner in the Waldegrave Drawing Room. It may not be a launch, but it will be a celebration.

Declaration

The charity trustees declare that they approved the report and accounts for the period ended 31 December 2021 on 20[th] October 2022

Signed:

John Sherrington

Bishop John Sherrington, Chairman of the Governing Body on behalf of the Charity Trustees

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Registered Charity No: 1186431

Independent Examiner's report to the trustees of Mater Ecclesiae College

I report to the trustees of the Mater Ecclesiae College (the charity) on my examination of the accounts of the charity for the year ended 31 December 2021.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity trustees of the charity you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’).

I report in respect of my examination of the Trustee’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.

Independent examiner’s statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with my examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Amanda Francis, Independent Examiner (Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales) Buzzacott LLP 130 Wood Street London EC2V 6DL

21 October 2022

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Registered Charity No: 1186431

Mater Ecclesiae College

Receipts and Payments Account for the year ending 31 December 2021

Notes Total funds
Total funds
Dec 2021
Dec 2020
£
£
Receipts
1
Donations 60,000
60,000
Sub Total (Gross income for
Annual Return)		 60,000
60,000
Asset and investment sales —
—
Total Receipts 60,000
60,000
Payments
2
Service charge paid 60,000
60,000
Sub total (Gross expenditure
for Annual Return)		 60,000
60,000
Asset and investment
purchases		 —
—
Total Payments 60,000
60,000
Net receipts/(payments) —
—
Transfers between funds —
—
Cash funds last period end —
—
Cash funds this period end —
—

*All funds are unrestricted

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Registered Charity No: 1186431

Statement of Assets & Liabilities at 31 December 2021

Total Funds
Total Funds
Dec 2021
Dec 2020
£
£
Total Cash funds —
—
Other monetary
assets		 —
—
Investment assets —
—
Total Assets —
—
Liabilities —
—
Total Net Assets —
—
Total Reserves —
—

*There are neither Assets nor Liabilities as at the period end

Signed on behalf of all the trustees

John Sherrington

Trustee Date 20[th] October 2022

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Registered Charity No: 1186431

Statement of Accounting Policies

A. Basis of preparation

The accounts are prepared on a receipts and payments basis as permitted under section 133 of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Charities Act’).

B. Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds are general funds that are available for use at the charity trustees’ discretion in furtherance of any of the objectives of the charity.

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Registered Charity No: 1186431

Notes to the Accounts 31 December 2021

Total funds
Total funds		 Total funds
Total funds
Dec 2021
Dec 2020
1 Receipts
£
£
Donations – Catholic Trust for England and Wales -
Contributiontowardsrunning costs
60,000
60,000
Total
60,000
60,000
2 Payments
£
£
Service charge to St Mary’s University
60,000
60,000
Total 60,000
60,000

3 Related party transactions

The Most Revd Bernard Longley and The Most Revd Malcolm McMahon OP, are both trustees of the CIO and also trustees of the Catholic Trust for England and Wales, a charity that has donated £60,000 (2020 - £60,000) to the CIO as contribution towards its running costs.

There were no other related party transactions (2020 – none).

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Registered Charity No: 1186431