Centre for Catholic Studies Annual Report 2020-21 by ccsdurham

Catholic Theology in the Public Academy

Centre for Catholic Studies Annual Report 2020-21 June 2021

Director’s Report 2020-21 Prof. Paul D. Murray Professor of Systematic Theology, and CCS Dean-Director As many of you will know, Karen Kilby was at the helm of the CCS as Director from August 2019 through to December 2020 to enable me to take research leave to focus on writing. I resumed the role of Director at the start of Epiphany term 2021. I extend, on behalf of the entire CCS and our many friends and partners, sincere thanks to Karen for her very skillful, energetic, and wise leadership during the immensely challenging time of the pandemic. Many opportunities have been identified and a range of new initiatives developed, including the CCS’s Book Launch Series, which has seen hundreds of people engage via Zoom from across the globe in nine events this year; the CCS’s Study Series, a series of online discussions on various aspects of Catholic theology and Catholic studies with three events this year; and the Franciscan Studies Summer School, held online 17-28 May. Like many of our events, these are designed to be accessible to all. In this and other ways, the CCS staff team has grasped the opportunities for engagement in the new online world and significantly increased CCS impact and outreach. Research has continued apace, with the team of CCS postdoctoral fellows growing to a vibrant group of ten in 2020-21, all funded by donations from various partners, for which we are very grateful. Further on in this report you will find tastes of: current respective developments in our wellestablished programmes in the History of Catholicism and in Catholic Social Thought and Practice; our continued research interests in the area of Catholicism, Literature, and the Arts; and our nascent research programme in Lived Catholicism. Like many, CCS staff and students have been working from home since March 2020, and colleagues have worked hard – and creatively – to support the CCS community of postgraduates. Virtual meetings on Zoom have given students a valuable space to meet, share and discuss. Some reflections from our students can be found later in the report. Particularly significant developments have taken place since the Franciscan Legacy Conference in November 2019, with several Franciscan congregations pledging support for a St Clare Professorship, envisaged as being the first of two endowed posts in Franciscan Studies. Conversations are ongoing with the aim to have £2.2m+ in confirmed pledges by Summer 2021 in order to endow the St Clare Professorship and appoint for a September 2022 start. We are very excited to be working with Franciscan sisters and brothers to develop this long-term programme in Franciscan Studies at Durham University. Another significant development is progress with an online Distance Learning MA in Catholic Theology. Most modules will be available asynchronously so that students can work through material at their own pace and work equally comfortably in any time zone. The MA will be suitable as preparation for doctoral work, as well as for those pursuing an MA for reasons of ongoing personal and professional development. It is hoped the new degree will be approved by the University for the first intake of students in 2022-23.

Franciscan Legacy Conference, Nov 2019

Development & Finance Tim Guinan Senior Development Manager (CCS) Amid all the challenges of this academic year, the generosity and vision of our partners has helped sustain and develop the CCS in meaningful ways that will ensure we emerge from this period with much optimism for the future. However, there have been inevitable delays and fundraising has been hampered by travel restrictions and economic uncertainty. For these reasons alone we are particularly grateful to our many long-term benefactors who recognise the need for continued investment in the staff, students, and projects at the CCS, now more than ever. Porticus have extended funding for the scoping phase of the ‘Transformed Church’ project, and are considering proposals to develop the project into a second phase – this alongside their ongoing support for the Boundary Breaking project. The Canonesses of the Holy Sepulchre have also extended their support for their Archival Fellowship for another year. The Congregation of La Retraite have funded the Catherine de Francheville Fellowship, a three-year postdoctoral fellowship (Assistant Professor – Research) named after their foundress. The OFM Capuchins (GB) have also provided funds for a three-year Capuchin Fellowship, as well as making a contribution to the Franciscan Studies Summer School. We were also able to secure significant pledges towards the St Clare Professorship from the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood, the GB Friars Minor, Irish Friars Minor, and the OFM Capuchins (GB). A number of other pledges are in consideration which, as Paul has mentioned in his report, could help us achieve the required £2.2m to endow the initial professorial post and launch the first stage of the Franciscan Studies Programme. Despite these huge positives, cuts to Faculty budgets which support our core operation served to highlight the CCS’s vulnerability and we were very grateful to those, such as the Religious of Christian Education, who answered the call for additional donations to support the CCS’s administration which underpins all other activity. These and other events have reaffirmed the need to endow the CCS Directorate and administrative team in perpetuity in order to secure financial independence and long-term surety for the CCS, something which we are striving for with renewed urgency now and over the next few years. The £4m target is achievable, particularly when pledged over multiple years, but requires the collective determination of several key partners invested in the future of Catholic theology in the UK public academy. In addition to these longstanding priorities we look forward to developing new conversations with international scope in growing areas such as Lived Catholicism and Newman Studies, not to mention exciting new projects in the North East. Finally, thank you to all our partners, friends, and benefactors who continue to make the CCS uniquely special and without whom it simply could not function. 3

The CCS calls for collective determination of several key partners invested in the future of Catholic theology in the UK public academy to secure the CCS in perpetuity.

Report from the Bede Chair of Catholic Theology Prof. Karen Kilby This has been an unusual year for me, not just because of the pandemic, but also because until the end of December I continued as Director of the CCS during Paul Murray’s study leave. As a result of this commitment, as well as my role on the national REF panel, I have had greatly reduced teaching duties this year, though I have continued with some undergraduate and MA dissertation supervision, and with the supervision of nine PhD students. One focus of my time as CCS Director was to lead the emergence of a new CCS online outreach portfolio, including Book Launches, a Study Series and the Lived Catholicism conference. I also pursued the outreach dimension of the Bede Chair in a variety of ways. The Durham Theology Book Club moved online, still meeting monthly, with slightly increased participation. I have been amazed by the quality of conversation in the group, and its level of commitment. I facilitated theological conversations with the Coordinating Committee of the Diocesan Justice and Peace Council, around themes of ‘Being Prophetic’ in Advent, and ‘Hope’ during Lent. I was pleased to be called on to contribute in the Diocese in other ways, including participating in the Diocesan Day of Scripture (by video), in a review of Minsteracres Retreat Centre, and in an advisory group on the formation of catechists. Outreach beyond the Diocese has included participation in the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Theological Retreat Group and in a Catholic Theological Association online panel on the Church and Covid. I continued my work with CAFOD, and have been pleased to see the strengthening of links between the CCS and CAFOD. I have served as a Trustee since 2017, and this year became Chair of the Strategy and Performance Committee, one of the two main committees that reports to the Board. I continued to participate in CAFOD’s Theological Reference Group, and addressed all CAFOD staff at one of their monthly meetings via video. I was pleased this year to see the publication of a new book, God, Evil and the Limits of Theology, and honoured that the journal Political Theology will shortly publish a collection of substantial responses to it by a distinguished set of scholars, including the former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, and professors from Boston College, Yale University, Cambridge University, and Virginia Theological Seminary. An ongoing project, working its way through the University approval process, is a new Distance Learning MA Programme in Catholic Theology, which I hope can be joined, if our Franciscan hopes come to fruition, with a second Distance Learning MA in Franciscan Studies.

Photo by Howard Little ABIPP ©

New CAFOD-Durham Research Fellowship CAFOD has launched a significant new initiative, funded by Porticus, entitled the CAFODDurham Research Fellowship, and together with Linda Jones I will be supervising the first Fellow - a CCS postgraduate scholar - in a one-year theological project beginning shortly. This seems to me a wonderful initiative to help enrich theological reflection at CAFOD on the one hand, and help develop Catholic theologians of the future in an ecclesially engaged way on the other.

Research: Constructive Catholic Theology

Boundary Breaking

THE BOUNDARY BREAKING TEAM

The Boundary Breaking project aims to assess whether ecclesial-cultural factors have contributed to the clerical sexual abuse of children and the subsequent mishandling of such cases within the Catholic Church in England and Wales. Prompted by the pandemic, the research team set up a pilot study to test the viability of the work which had until that point used an ethnographic methodology requiring visits to field sites, face to face meetings, and participant observation. The team have found that the research is viable but this has been and will continue to be contingent on a clear shift in methodology with online interviews now being the main data source. The team have interviewed 21 participants, have a further 37 interviews planned, and continue to recruit other participants. Some participant observation has been possible, with one group moving its work online. What is clearly missing, however, is the wealth of information gathered from the context of the field site. The team’s priorities now are: i) to proceed with and extend further the interview base; and ii) to begin the work of identifying theological and ecclesiological issues implicated in research participants’ experiences.

Principal Investigator: Dr Marcus Pound, Associate Professor of Catholic Studies. Co-Investigator: Prof. Paul D. Murray, Professor of Systematic Theology. Dr Catherine Sexton joined the team in July 2020 bringing a wealth of theological skills to the project, and a deep sensitivity to the complexity of issues involved. Following Dr Giuseppe Bolotta’s appointment to a permanent post at Università Ca' Foscari Venice in January 2021, Dr Pat Jones and Adrian Brooks, both CCS alumni, joined the team. Pat brings extensive research experience, and Adrian, as a research assistant and expert in ecclesiology, will support the work with an analytical literature review. The team is supported by Project Coordinator Yvonne Williams.

Lived Theology, Trauma and Reconciliation Dr Victoria Biggs, La Retraite Fellow in Lived Theology, Trauma and Reconciliation My project on the spiritualities that emerge during and after genocide was conceived as ethnographic theology, involving extensive fieldwork in StesMarie-de-la-Mer in France and Kibeho in Rwanda. These are pilgrimage sites overshadowed by histories of genocide – the Porajmos (Nazi persecution of Roma people) and the Tutsi genocide of 1994 respectively. The pandemic meant that fieldwork was postponed indefinitely and my research became archival. Poring over photographs sourced online from an antiquarian bookseller in Switzerland, I identified people who had been incarcerated in Saliers, the Vichy concentration camp near Stes-Marie-dela-Mer, and began the search for any survivors or descendants who might wish to be interviewed remotely. As a result of my undergraduate teaching on post-Holocaust theology in an age of decolonisation, my attention was drawn to the lack of work on the historical and conceptual intersections between post-Holocaust and liberation theologies, and I am drafting a book on this topic. I hope to be successful in reaching my field sites this year, but if not, the rich and multifaceted nature of the project means that I will find plenty to occupy me in Durham. 5

Research: Constructive Catholic Theology Theology and Spirituality Dr Elizabeth Powell, La Retraite Fellow in Theology and Spirituality The third and final year of the Theology and Spirituality Project has marked several significant milestones in my research as La Retraite Fellow. The publication of my monograph David Jones and the Craft of Theology: Becoming Beauty with Bloomsbury/T&T Clark was a particular highlight, as was the CCS-hosted book launch celebrating its release in October 2020 with Rowan Williams and Vittorio Montemaggi as respondents. A number of other pieces of writing were also brought to completion during this period, including three essays for Commonweal magazine that offered theological and spiritual reflections on the Covid-19 pandemic through close readings of David Jones’s artwork. I was also able to write a set of commentaries interpreting Matthew 6 in relation to artworks by Paul Cézanne, Vincent Van Gogh, and David Jones for Visual Commentary on Scripture, as well as contribute a series of reflections and prayers on the Joyful and Luminous Mysteries for a Rosary Prayer booklet. Co-convening the online ‘Art of Attention’ Study Series (May 2021) with Theodora Hawksley at the London Jesuit Centre has been a particular delight, serving to broaden this research area by providing a context for constructive conversation between theologians, spiritual directors, artists, writers, and other early career researchers. Teaching and speaking engagements have continued to be a central place for sharing and refining my research. Highlights among these include a graduate seminar on Julian of Norwich and a paper for the CTRS (November 2020). It is also an honour to have given the first annual Catholicism, Literature, and the Arts Public Lecture (May 2021). The online Cross-Institutional Reading Group in the area of Theology, Spirituality and the Arts, led by myself and Férdia Stone-Davis of Margaret Beaufort Institute, became a significant forum for building networks with scholars across multiple institutions in the UK, Europe, and the US. Three essays in Commonweal by Elizabeth:  The Paradoxes of Enclosure: David Jones’s ‘Nativity’ (Sept 2020)  The Suspended Beauty of the Cross: David Jones’s ‘Crucifixion’ (Oct 2020)  Glimpses of a New Order: David Jones’s ‘Resurrection’ (Nov 2020) 6

Photos by Olly Pearson

Receptive Ecumenism A three-year project led by Dr Gregory Ryan (funded by Porticus) to consolidate and publish key material on this long-running Durham programme concludes in September 2021. Various publications and events have been delivered or are in progress. Greg Ryan’s monograph, Hermeneutics of Doctrine in a Learning Church: The Dynamics of Receptive Integrity, was published October 2020. The first systematic appraisal of how Receptive Ecumenism has been received in academia, in ecumenical dialogues, and in churches over the past 15 years has been published as ‘The Reception of Receptive Ecumenism’ in Ecclesiology (April 2021). This essay draws on a wide range of material, from “ground level” as well as official publications. Receptive Ecumenism as Transformative Ecclesial Learning: Walking the Way to a Church Re-formed, will be delivered to OUP in June 2021. This major volume - co-edited by Paul Murray, Greg Ryan, and Paul Lakeland - puts material from the 2nd and 3rd International Conferences into the public domain together with newly-commissioned essays. Also in preparation are Paul Murray’s monograph Healing the Wounds of the Church: The Theology and Practice of Receptive Ecumenism, and, with Marcus Pound, an accessible book on Receptive Ecumenism and the Local Church. Rev Dr Gabrielle Thomas published For the Good of the Church: Unity, Theology and Women (SCM, 2021) drawing on her 2017-19 CCS project on “Ecclesial Learning About Women and the English Churches Through Receptive Ecumenism”. The 5th International Receptive Ecumenism Conference will be held in Sigtuna, June 2022. The CCS is hosting an experimental half-day “Pre-Conference” taster, online, on 17 June: Heeding the Spirit: New Horizons in Receptive Ecumenism.

Transformative Renewal in the Church Rev Dr John O’Brien, Associate Professor (Research) Research during the scoping period has established relationships with 14 initiatives in Britain and Ireland working at transformative ecclesial renewal. While all these sites are of ongoing interest, an application to Porticus to further the research in England and Wales has been submitted for the next phase (2021-22) and will focus on:   

Lay ministry formation in the Hallam Diocese; Lay ministry and decision making in parishes on Anglesey; Root and Branch – a nationwide women’s reform group, with international links, planning a ‘Women’s Synod’ in Bristol (September 2021).

Our research has uncovered a deep desire for ecclesial renewal at all levels of the church, especially given how Covid has exacerbated existing dysfunctionalities. The ability and willingness of laypeople, especially women, to lead on initiatives, may be viewed against the backdrop of fewer clergy, increasingly aged and overworked. Pope Francis dreams of a missionary impulse capable of “transforming everything” (E.G.27). This project aims to ascertain how such transformation can gain serious traction and have practical impact in the Catholic Church in Britain and Ireland.

Research: History of Catholicism Dr James Kelly Sweeting Associate Professor (Research) in the History of Catholicism THE HISTORY OF CATHOLICISM TEAM

Dr James Kelly

New posts This year saw the extension of Cormac Begadon’s fixed-term position as the Sepulchrine Fellow. The three-year FMDM Fellow, Brian Casey, started in March 2020, exploring the changing role of the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood within the global history of Catholicism, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In the last few months, Liam Temple started as the three-year Capuchin Fellow, working on the relationship between the Capuchins and Britain since the mid 16th century up to the modern day. Interviews for the three-year Catherine de Francheville Fellowship were held at the end of May 2021. Dr Sarah Barthélemy, currently a Visiting Professor at Université Saint-Louis in Brussels, has been appointed and will work on the activities of the Congregation of La Retraite from c.1650 to c.1820 Publications

Dr Cormac Begadon

Dr Brian Casey

‘Catholicisms, c.1450–c.1800’ is a new series on the Durham University IMEMS Press (published through Boydell & Brewer). The editorial team is drawn from Durham University and the University of Notre Dame – James Kelly (Durham), Ulrich Lehner (Notre Dame) and Susannah Monta (Notre Dame) – and amongst the series advisory board is John McCafferty (University College Dublin), recently appointed an Honorary Professor with the CCS. The series launch volume has its roots in the third Early Modern British and Irish Catholicism conference and the Monks in Motion project: British and Irish Religious Orders in Europe, 1560–1800: Conventuals, Mendicants and Monastics in Motion, edited by Cormac Begadon and James E. Kelly. An edited collection that had its roots in a workshop co-sponsored by the CCS with Bergen University and the Pontifical University of St Patrick’s College Maynooth was published by Palgrave Macmillan: Northern European Reformat ions: Transnational Perspectives, edited by James E. Kelly, Henning Laugerud, and Salvador Ryan.

Dr Liam Temple

Lectures Due to lockdowns, the two Ushaw Lectures scheduled for Easter term 2020 were postponed. Since then the lectures have been hosted virtually. Speakers included Rob Fennell (Atlantic School of Theology, Halifax, Canada, RRL Visiting Fellow), Sir James MacMillan, Carmen Mangion (Birkbeck, RRL Visiting Fellow), and Erin Rowe (John Hopkins University, USA). Naturally, attendance levels vary depending on the speaker and subject but the MacMillan lecture was attended live by 484 people, and the Mangion lecture by 208. The Annual London Catholic Studies Lecture, hosted jointly by the CCS and the University of Notre Dame’s London Global Gateway, was delivered by Rev Dr Nicholas Ayo in December. The CCS continues to work closely with Durham’s Special Collections team. There have been several podcasts and videos relating to relevant collections. In addition, the first of the virtual CCS Study Series was Hidden Histories, a two-evening online event on recovering the importance of the archives of religious congregations, from the break with Rome to the present day.

Ladywell Convent in the 1960s (from the FMDM archives)

Plans for the coming year include several virtual workshops:  25th June - A Research Showcase, with the History of Women Religious in Britain and Ireland research network, featuring early career researchers (lead: Liam Temple);  16th September – An Archives Workshop, with the Catholic Archives Society, a follow-up to the Hidden Histories event held in March;  In September a workshop on Women Religious and the French Revolution, which will lead to a collection of essays (lead: Cormac Begadon). 9

Research: Catholic Social Thought & Practice Dr Anna Rowlands, St Hilda Chair in CSTP Anna has been on research leave for the past two terms, so this has been an unconventional year of activity. Over the last 12 months Anna has mainly been involved in continuing work on established projects. AHRC/ESRC Refugee Hosts Project

Women at the Well Anna has continued to work with Dr Pat Jones to accompany and support her work with women in prostitution at Women at the Well, Kings Cross. Pat has done the fieldwork, analysis and initial writeups of this work. Anna has also taken over as the Chair of Trustees at Women at the Well.

The final dissemination phase of this project is underway. Podcasts, policy summaries, and a Religious Literacy Handbook on religion in the contexts of displacement are being produced. See www.refugeehosts.org. Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) UK Last year we completed and launched the report ‘For Our Welfare and Not for Our Harm’. This year Anna has worked with JRS to produce a second report focused on CST and asylum policy change. It can be viewed at: https://www.jrsuk.net/wpcontent/uploads/2021/04/Being-Human-in-theAsylum-System_JRS-UK_April-2021.pdf

Future of Work Anna has continued to work with Dr Maria Exall, who has been commissioned to produce a scoping piece of work on ‘the future of work’ in a post-Covid-19 context in the UK.

The Hearing, Speaking, Reconciling Project Nicky Burbach has continued to work on this project and will complete it during her transition to working full-time with the Jesuits at their London Centre. CSTP Publications The CCS launched the T&T Clark Reader in Political Theology, edited by Anna Rowlands, Beth Phillips, and Amy Daughton in April as part of the online Book Launch Series 2020-21. Anna’s monograph Towards a Politics of Communion: Catholic Social Teaching in Dark Times (Bloomsbury) should be in print at the end of November 2021. With UCL colleague Prof. Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, Anna is continuing to edit an Oxford Handbook on Religion and Contemporary Migration, due 2022. Media This year Anna has contributed to: BBC Radio 4 Thought for the Day, BBC Radio 4 Archive on 4, and LBC radio work. For ABC Religion and Ethics, three blog pieces on Covid-19 and Hannah Arendt, Simone Weil, and Gillian Rose. 10

Other St Hilda Chair activity this year included: Teaching a series of online sessions focused on Covid and political theology for third year undergraduates for which Anna was delighted to be awarded a university excellence in teaching one-off award. Anna has also undertaken a new course in Parliament, conducted via Zoom. This work continues in partnership with Mark Harris and Christians in Parliament. “I was honoured to be asked by Pope Francis to take part in the panel to launch his recent social encyclical Fratelli tutti. This involved a few weeks work in Rome prior to the launch and then the launch plus additional international news media work for a week afterwards. This took up much of the start of my research leave time, but was well worth it and a once in a lifetime opportunity. I also conducted two briefing dinners for Ambassadors to the Holy See and other senior Vatican officials, hosted by the UK Ambassador and the Dutch Ambassador. Since then, I have delivered a series of online talks on Fratelli tutti for a wide range of UK and international groups including: Caritas Europa Directors, the Pontifical Academy for the Social Sciences Wellbeing Project (led by Prof. Jeffrey Sachs), National Board of Catholic Women, LSE Faith Centre, Centre for Theology and Community Buxton Fellowship Interns. I have written blogs on Fratelli tutti for ABC Religion and Ethics, Georgetown University Berkeley Forum, and the UK think-tank THEOS. I have done podcasts with THEOS, The Tablet, and the William Temple Foundation. In addition, I have organised a special edition of the Journal for Catholic Social Thought and Practice based at Villanova University in the US. This edition will be co-edited with Prof. Meghan Clark and will be entirely written by women theologians who work on CST across the globe, with good representation from the global south. I am also a contributor to a global responses volume on Fratelli tutti being organised by Prof. William Cavanaugh, DePaul University, Chicago.” Anna Rowlands, May 2021

Academic and public service Anna was honoured to be appointed by Pope Francis as a Member of the Dicastery of Integral Human Development. Anna has joined the Leech Foundation advisory group, based in the North East, and agreed to sit on the Scott Holland Trust, which has a renewed link with Durham and the Anglican Studies Centre. 11

Research: Catholicism, Literature & the Arts Dr Elizabeth Powell, La Retraite Fellow in Theology and Spirituality In Epiphany term 2020, we began a Cross-Institutional Reading Group in Theology, Spirituality, and the Arts via Zoom, led by Elizabeth Powell and Férdia Stone-Davis. The online forum proved an excellent way to build a network of scholars with shared research interests from Durham University, Margaret Beaufort Institute, King’s College London, University of Gothenburg, and Duke University. For each of the five sessions, we read a chapter from Natalie Carnes’s Image and Presence: A Christological Study on Iconoclasm and Iconophilia alongside supplementary theological and art critical texts, and looked together at a selection of art works to further enrich discussion. The inaugural annual Catholicism, Literature and the Arts Public Lecture was given by Elizabeth Powell on 27 May 2021 by Zoom, ‘Suspended Beauty of the Cross: A Study of David Jones’s Crucifixion’. This followed a three-part online Study Series exploring the nature and role of ‘attention’ in the arts, spirituality, and theology on 5, 12 and 17 May. The programme brought together theologians, artists, and writers to discuss questions such as ‘How does the way we attend shape what we perceive?’, ‘What kinds of attention influence and inform peace-building efforts?’, and ‘How can our relationship to place be transformed through shifts in our practice of attention?’. Planning for the Third International Catholicism, Literature and the Arts Conference is already underway and tentatively scheduled for 4-6 July 2022. It will be based at the Notre Dame’s London Global Gateway and will include an online element in order to continue to reach a wider national and international community.

The Red Room, Oil on Linen, 205x170cm, by Tim Patrick ©

Grantchester, Cambridgeshire. Photo by Olly Pearson

Research: Lived Catholicism Establishing a devoted research programme in the empirical study of Catholicism has long been part of the vision for the CCS, with many of our projects already either directly engaging this area or drawing upon it in some way. The 2020-21 academic year has seen us take a decisive step closer to realising this vision through the initiative and creativity of Avril Baigent (Durham doctoral student), Kat Ajibade (doctoral student at the London School of Economics), and colleagues Dr Marcus Pound and Dr Pat Jones, who envisaged, organized, and hosted the immensely successful online Lived Catholicism(s): New Questions and Untold Stories conference in November 2020. The conference keynote speakers included Robert Orsi (Northwestern University, Illinois), Tricia Bruce (University of Notre Dame / University of Texas at San Antonio), Alana Harris (King’s College London) and Stephen Bullivant (St Mary’s University, Twickenham). This event pioneered the multi-disciplinary study of Lived Catholicism, bringing together a broad range of analytical perspectives (including anthropology, sociology, theology, human geography, psychology, history, and cultural studies) to examine how Catholicism is variously actually lived relative to the particularities of place, circumstance, and time, and what this means for institutional and normative narratives.

Tech set up for the conference

Avril and Pat are now leading on scoping a second CCS-hosted online international Lived Catholicism conference for November 2021. A special edition of Ecclesial Practices focusing on the first conference is due out in March 2022. One of the strategic priorities for the CCS for the coming 12-18 months is to secure funding for a two to three year research project/postdoctoral fellow to work in this area of Lived Catholicism. As well as complementing and deepening work across existing programme areas, this would enable us to engage the living, breathing realities of Lived Catholicism with appropriate professional expertise and to lay the ground for training future academic leaders in this exciting field.

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Students CCS student members bring life and vitality to the CCS community. Even with the restrictions of the pandemic, students have continued to play a full role in the Centre, partaking in virtual meetings and hosting various online seminars and events. This year our student ‘Pizza and Wine’ conversations were moved online giving students a valuable space to meet, share and discuss, especially during the first lockdown. Themes for conversations included: ‘Theologically informed reflection, reaction and response to the pandemic and the resulting situation’; 'Integrity and integration in theological study'; ‘A View from the Middle: Trauma Theology and Covid-19’; and 'Self or service: what's the point of theology?'. The annual Early Career Conference in Catholic Theology and Catholic Studies planned for June 2020 was postponed due to the pandemic. This year the conference is taking place online with 26 papers accepted from postgraduate students and other early career scholars from Durham, across the UK and Europe, Africa, and the US.

Scholarships Through generous donations from the Institute of Our Lady of Mercy, the Congregation of Jesus, the Religious of Christian Education, the Capuchin Franciscans of GB, the Sisters of the Holy Cross, the Newman Association, and a number of individual donors, the CCS has been able to support 17 students with scholarship and bursary awards totalling £125,567 in 2020-21. The majority of these awards offer help towards tuition fees, with the exception of three full-time Louis Lafosse PhD Scholarships. The Lafosse scholars are each in receipt of full home rate tuition fees, and a maintenance allowance at the Research Council’s rate, all funded by significant annual donations from the Religious of Christian Education. The CCS is very grateful to the Sisters of the Religious of Christian Education who recently pledged to continue their annual donations to 2025. CCS students and staff are grateful to all who have donated funds to enable the award of CCS scholarships, and also to the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle for supporting a number of CCS students with funding through their Lay Training Fund. The Cost of Study in 2021-22 1 year full-time MA in Christian Theology (Catholic Studies) Home student tuition fees - £9,900 Overseas student tuition fees - £21,250 3 year full-time PhD – new student in 2021-22 Home student tuition fees - £4,500 per annum Overseas student tuition fees - £21,465 per annum Maintenance (UKRI minimum stipend) - £15,609 Total cost for a three year full-time PhD student c. £60k-£111k 14

Some comments from CCS scholarship holders I am undertaking a Postgraduate Diploma in Theology and Religion. It has been a fascinating year for me, having changed academic discipline, transferred university, and moved to the other end of the country. The CCS in particular has helped make these changes a blessing and a strength. I thank my sponsors so much for their support. It has enabled me to focus on my studies, and make my attendance at Durham University possible. Upon completion of my studies, I hope to dive into the mission and ministry of charity work, seeking to engage other young Catholics in social justice action, utilising our shared faith to inspire, encourage, and make change. Charlie Bennett

I am incredibly thankful for the support that I have received from the CCS and for the opportunity to be connected with it. The community has been an incredibly nurturing place to develop both as an academic and as a person. Being a member of this diverse community has opened up so many incredible opportunities for me; from being able to attend seminars and conferences, to being involved in a Receptive Ecumenism project, to working with the Centre for Catholic Social Thought and Practice. It is through the support of the CCS that I have been enabled to work towards my dream of contributing to the constructive development of Catholic social thought, albeit in my own small way, and give back to the Catholic tradition which has given me so much. Charlotte Bray, Louis Lafosse Scholar

I am a full-time Integrated PhD student in Catholic Social Thought and New Testament. I was born and grew up in Buenos Aires. Both my academic work and my spiritual life have been positively influenced by the CCS community. I do appreciate the ecumenical mind set of both students and staff in this community as their sincere devotion and love for the Lord and the Body of Christ. I look forward to going back to somewhere in South America in order to teach courses on the social world of Early Christianity, LatinAmerican theologies, and the issue of poverty and wealth. I am also hoping to equip and influence seminary students, pastors, and Christian leaders from the majority world, who will, later on, serve in churches, and also impact their communities. Leonardo Choi

The CCS is a unique and life-giving academic community. My research thus far has been undertaken within Covid19 restrictions, and all of my engagement with Durham has been virtual. I naturally look forward to a resumption of real-life interaction, but I have to say that the CCS has been a truly excellent source of stimulating, academic sustenance during the most challenging of circumstances. The warmth of its staff, alongside the truly excellent and diverse range of stimulating seminars, lectures, talks, book launches, and an incredible online conference in the late autumn, have provided a wonderful companion-community to my doctoral studies. I am very grateful for the hard work and energy that makes the CCS such a thriving and welcoming theological community at Durham. I am additionally very grateful to the CCS donors, who enable students like me to engage with and explore important areas of Catholic theology. Brendan McMullan

Considering a donation towards CCS scholarships? Please contact Tim Guinan, Senior Development Manager (CCS) for information: tim.guinan@durham.ac.uk 15

Alumni News Congratulations to five CCS students completing PhD programmes in 2020-21: Nicky Burbach, who has been working on the Hearing, Speaking, Reconciling Project with Anna Rowlands since 2019 and lecturing at Durham on Catholic Social Teaching and postmodern theology, was recently appointed as the Lead for Social & Environmental Justice programming at the London Jesuit Centre. Billy Crozier, who has taught two undergraduate modules on Bonaventure at Durham this year and led an advanced course on ‘Bonaventure: Love and Knowledge’ at the Franciscan Studies Summer School, has been awarded a three-year Leverhulme postdoctoral award in Franciscan Theology (Bonaventure) at Durham. Myka Lahaie, adjunct lecturer at the University of Saint Francis, Indiana. Joshua Mobley, lecturing at Baylor University, Texas. The book of his PhD, A Brief Systematic Theology of the Symbol, is due to come out with T&T Clark in November 2021. Kelsie Rodenbiker, who has taken up a post of Research Assistant in the School of Critical Studies, University of Glasgow.

Postdoctoral Alumni The CCS is grateful to the many donors who have sponsored postdoctoral fellowships through the Centre - 19 posts since 2012. These invaluable posts, normally two to three years in duration, give some of the finest early career scholars the chance to establish their research, taking them into lectureships within the academy and influential roles within church and society.

Events 2020-21

With the onset of the pandemic, like many, the CCS moved to holding events online. This greatly increased access resulting in larger audiences and enabling participation from across the globe – the wonders of Zoom! The regular CTRS and Ushaw Lecture Series have continued throughout the pandemic. Notably the Christmas Lecture with Sir James MacMillan, ‘Catholicism and Music’, attracted over 450 people and the recording made available on YouTube has attracted over 900 views. In addition to the regular seminars and lectures the CCS began a new online Book Launch Series in October 2020 – nine CCS related publications have been launched to date – and a Study Series in March 2021 – Hidden Histories, The Art of Attention, and Receptive Ecumenism. These events have been of great interest and the CCS has received lots of positive feedback on the content and structure of such online events.

CCS online events have a high audience retention rate of 7580%. Lots of positive feedback on the content and structure of CCS events has been received.

Other major online events were the Lived Catholicism Conference, and the Franciscan Studies Summer School, a new venture in partnership with Franciscan families. In June we hold the CCS Early Career Conference fully online for the first time. Just before the first lockdown, on 11 March 2020, the CCS met with partners and supporters in Durham Castle for our Annual Advisory Board and Friends’ and Benefactors’ event, little did we know then what was ahead. The CCS has continued conversations with our partners online holding a series of shorter update meetings during 202021. Looking ahead to 2021-22, we hope to be able to hold events in person once again, and also continue to hold virtual events to engage with our wider audience. 17

Larger engagement, with Global audiences. Participants from across the UK, Europe, USA, Australia, Canada, Africa, South America, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Israel.

Outreach The CCS organises many events each year to encourage interested members of the public, its many partners, and academics from other institutions to share in its research and research interests. In addition to these, the Bede Chair and St Hilda Chair both have 20% of their time dedicated to outreach commitment as part of their portfolio, with many other CCS staff also involved in outreach activities, all sharing their research within the academy, church , and society. Some examples of CCS outreach events: In partnership with St Cuthbert’s Catholic Church Durham and Holy Name Catholic Church Jesmond, the CCS has arranged a Series of Termly Talks, given by CCS staff, on subjects including: 'Catholicism and the Environmental Crisis', ‘Towards a politics of communion: the common good in challenging times’, and ‘Theology and Comedy’. The series was due to begin in October 2020 but has been postponed for 12 months due to the pandemic. The CCS has held a number of VIth form Religious Education events in the North East. The event planned for 2020 was cancelled due to the pandemic. Karen Kilby is currently working with the Catholic Education Service and the Association of Teachers of Catholic Religious Education (ATCRE) to plan a collaborative event for the autumn.

Karen Kilby, Bede Professor, has continued the monthly Durham Theology Book Club, moving online during the pandemic with a slight increase in numbers.

170 people attended the Online Franciscan Studies Summer School, organised by the CCS in partnership with Franciscan congregations, with two introductory modules, ‘Francis and Clare’ and ‘Franciscan Global Vision’, and an advanced course on ‘Bonaventure: Love and Knowledge’.

The CCS is often asked, ‘How do you have an impact at the grass roots?’ In addition to the impact on individuals through numerous CCS events, CCS students move on from Durham and have impact across the world through their involvement in further academia and work in Christian organisations and schools. Examples include: 

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Gary Wade (CCS doctoral student 2018-21), who has recently taken up a teaching post in religious studies at St George's College, Weybridge, an Independent Catholic school in Surrey, teaching 11-18 year olds; Francis Stewart (CCS MA student 2016-17), Theology Advisor at CAFOD; Gareth Rowe (CCS MA student 2019-21), who is soon to take up a Research Fellowship with CAFOD to produce a theological research paper on ‘a just green, global recovery (with a focus on food systems and rethinking economic models in a post Covid world)’.

Research led by CCS staff also has impact at the grass roots. Recent examples include:   

Anna Rowlands’ work with the Jesuit Refugee Service making the voices of refugees heard; Anna Rowlands and Pat Jones’ work with women in prostitution as part of the Women at the Well project, Kings Cross; Individual impact on the Project Support Assistants involved in the Religious Life Africa project. 18

Partnerships The Centre for Catholic Studies is pleased to be working in partnership with: Arts and Humanities Research Council British Teilhard Network CAFOD Canonesses of the Holy Sepulchre Capuchin Franciscans of Great Britain Catholic Historical Society of Ireland Catholic Theological Association of GB Charles Plater Trust Community of St Francis Conference of Religious in England & Wales Congregation of Jesus Congregation of La Retraite (Britain & Ireland) Congregation of the Sisters of St Joseph of Peace Conrad N. Hilton Foundation Conventual Franciscan Federation (US) Durham University Catholic Chaplaincy English Benedictine Congregation Fairfield University, Connecticut Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Littlehampton Franciscan Sisters of Mill Hill Institute of Our Lady of Mercy Irish Capuchin Province Jesuits in Britain Mater Ecclesiae

National Board of Catholic Women Newman Association Order of Friars Minor in GB Order of Friars Minor (Irish Province) Porticus RC Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle Religious of Christian Education Sisters of Mercy (Oaklea) Sisters of the Holy Cross Sisters of the Poor Child Jesus Society of the Sacred Heart St Cuthbert’s Society of Ushaw The Society of St Francis The Tablet and The Pastoral Review Trustees of Ushaw College University of Notre Dame, Indiana & many Generous Individuals of Vision. To discuss partnership opportunities, many of which attract generous matchedfunding from the University and other benefactors, please contact Tim Guinan, Senior Development Manager for the CCS, for a conversation. A big THANK YOU to all our partners for your support!

CCS Friends’ and Benefactors’ Day, 11 March 2020

Catholic Theology in the Public Academy

A Prayer for the Work of the Centre for Catholic Studies Lord, If this be not your will, frustrate it, frustrate it fully and frustrate it quickly, and move our heart’s desire closer to the heart of your desire for us. But if it be of your will, then continue to open for us the generosity of heart, mind, and means that are needed, and may this generosity begin with us. Amen.

Contacts Centre for Catholic Studies Department of Theology and Religion Durham University Abbey House, Palace Green Durham DH1 3RS Dean-Director Prof. Paul D. Murray, paul.murray@durham.ac.uk Senior Development Manager (CCS) Mr Tim Guinan, tim.guinan@durham.ac.uk Administrator and PA to the Dean-Director Mrs Theresa Phillips, theresa.phillips@durham.ac.uk General enquiries Dr Jane Lidstone, Administrative Assistant ccs.admin@durham.ac.uk +44 (0) 191 334 1656 Development enquiries Mr Tim Guinan, tim.guinan@durham.ac.uk +44 (0) 7771 500 808 20