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2022-12-31-accounts

Mater Ecclesiae College

Charity Trustees’ Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2022

Registered Charity No: 1186431

Contents

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 6
Independent Examiner’s Report 7
Receipts and Payments Account 8
Statement of Assets & Liabilities 9
Statement of Accounting Policies 10
Notes to the Receipts and Payments Account 11

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Registered Charity No: 1186431

Mater Ecclesiae College

Charity Trustees’ Annual Report for the year ending 31 December 2022

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 Very Revd Dr Simon George Gaine OP The Right Revd John Francis Sherrington The Most Reverend George Stack (until 20 June 2022) The Most Revd Mark Anthony O’Toole (from 20 June 2022) Professor Gavin Gregory D’Costa The Most Revd Malcolm Patrick McMahon OP The Most Revd John Wilson

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 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 Baccalaureate of Sacred Theology (‘STB’) which is awarded by Mater Ecclesiae College.

Mater Ecclesiae College as such is now into the fourth year of its existence. During its first year, as is well known, it became handicapped by the coronavirus that plagued so much of society. Nevertheless, it is a pleasure to be able to report that this year we have returned at least to a kind of normality. In spite of COVID and the additional challenge of train strikes, all courses have been delivered and attendance has been high.

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Registered Charity No: 1186431

Achievements and Performance

As the year began, in January 2022, there were 25 full-time students and five visiting students (topping up/auditing). There is also a female student from Hong Kong who has enrolled to study for an STB.

May she be the first of many, as we seek to help Mater Ecclesiae develop with lay students both male and female.

Gratitude is owed to the staff who have worked diligently and successfully during the year. A special debt of gratitude is owed to Fr Javier Ruiz-Ortiz as Dean of Studies whose commitment and energy play such a vital role in the College’s life. The plenary meetings that he organizes and that take place at Allen Hall and the hospitality that he and the rector of Allen Hall, Canon John O’Leary, offer there make a real contribution to the spirit of what Mater Ecclesiae is seeking to achieve. As well as Fr Javier, tribute is also due to Dr Pia Matthews who has worked with him and whose attention to detail in establishing a curriculum that dovetails with that of St Mary’s has proved to be invaluable.

Aligning two distinct institutions is bound to create challenges. It has been a particular pleasure this year, therefore, to receive the External Examiner’s report which provides evidence for ways in which this alignment is taking place. Last year he had indicated limitations, but this year he was well satisfied and promised that his report would be enthusiastic and it was. That did not mean, as he observed, that there was not room for further improvement, but his comments were full of encouragement.

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.

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.

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Registered Charity No: 1186431

During the year ended 31 December 2022, 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

Painstaking work has continued to establish a pathway for the Licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL), combining it with the MA at St Mary’s. The most straightforward approach appears to be one that would align the STL with three Institute of Theology and Liberal Arts MAs, namely in Theology or Spirituality or Bioethics and Medical Law. Progress is encouraging, but demanding. We plan to be offering this pathway from September 2024.

Further work has also continued to create philosophy courses, in the first instance over two years, as is required, for those preparing for ministerial priesthood, and in the second instance, an intensive course concentrated into a single year for lay students who wish to enrol for the STB. That would make it possible for them to undertake the three year STB degree within the four year student loan funding window. These courses will begin from this September.

Plans have also continued to establish the civil Diploma in Canon Law that should begin in the coming academic year.

In November Fr Javier and the Rector, Monsignor Strange, paid a visit to Oscott to meet the Rector of Oscott, Fr Michael Dolman, and their Dean of Studies, Dr Mary McCaughey. The purpose of the visit was to establish contact and explain what was happening at Mater Ecclesiae. Who knows what the future may unfold, but that we should communicate and exchange information is important. Then at the end of November, as it is always better to meet people in real life than send them a letter, the Rector went to Rome to pay a visit to the newly formed Dicastery for Culture and Education. He had a very friendly meeting with the new Secretary for Education, Monsignor Cesare Pagazzi. This bodes well for the future.

Graduation

The 2022 Graduation ceremony took place, but not quite as planned. On the very day it transpired that the Chancellor, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, was unable to attend. With other church leaders, he had been summoned to meet King Charles III. The Chair of Governors, Bishop John Sherrington, was able to take his place and the event continued successfully with the reception taking place in the Dolce Vita Café.

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Registered Charity No: 1186431

Declaration

The charity trustees declare that they approved the report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2022 on 28[th] September 2023

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 2022.

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 25 October 2023 (Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales) Buzzacott LLP 130 Wood Street London EC2V 6DL

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Registered Charity No: 1186431

Mater Ecclesiae College

Receipts and Payments Account for the year ending 31 December 2022

Notes Total funds
Total funds
Dec 2022
Dec 2021
£
£
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 2022

Total Funds
Total Funds
Dec 2022
Dec 2021
£
£
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 year end

Signed on behalf of all the trustees

John Sherrington

Trustee

Date: 28[th] September 2023

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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.

Mater Ecclesiae College

Registered Charity No: 1186431

P a g e | 10

Notes to the Accounts 31 December 2022

Total funds
Total funds		 Total funds
Total funds
Dec 2022
Dec 2021
1 Receipts
£
£
Donations – Catholic Trust for England and Wales -
Contribution towards runningcosts
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 The Most Revd Malcolm McMahon OP, and The Most Reverend Mark O’Toole are all trustees of the CIO and also trustees of the Catholic Trust for England and Wales, a charity that has donated £60,000 (2022 - £60,000) to the CIO as contribution towards its running costs.

There were no other related party transactions (2022 – none).

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Registered Charity No: 1186431