St Hilda Chair in Catholic Social Thought and Practice established at Durham University

Durham Cathedral

The Centre for Catholic Studies (CCS) within Durham University’s Department of Theology and Religion, in conjunction with the recently established UK Centre for Catholic Social Thought and Practice (CSTP) and Durham University Business School, has announced the establishment of the St Hilda Chair in Catholic Social Thought and Practice.

Outstanding candidates are being sought for this endowed post – unique in the international secular academy and a fitting complement to the existing Bede Chair of Catholic Theology already within the CCS. The post has been founded in partnership with a group of committed, major benefactors from the UK, Europe, and the US.

This enabling group includes major foundations, women’s religious congregations, and business executives who are each passionate about providing world-leading critical academic resource to contribute to the constructive development and imaginative practical application of the Catholic Social Teaching tradition and so aid its wider critical engagement and dissemination amongst both scholars and professionals alike. The timely dual aim is to create a first-rate academic hub for the production of vital fresh research and understanding and to help to put “the Church’s best-kept secret” to work with effective impact in the public square.

Within the past year, as the world continues to seek to navigate a way through the pressing challenges to the global economic system, leading voices from politics, civil society and from amongst leading executives of companies such as Unilever, Vodafone, and McKinsey, have each been advocating the significant potential benefits that would flow from an engagement of Catholic Social Teaching with commercial, economic and political life.

Similarly, Church leaders such as newly-elevated Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop Justin Welby, and Cardinal Peter Turkson (President of the Pontifical Council for the Justice and Peace) – each of whom wrote letters of support for this post’s establishment – have joined Pope Francis in wanting to move the riches of Catholic Social Teaching beyond the Church and into society.

The response of Durham University’s Department of Theology and Religion to this global re-awakening, through its Centre for Catholic Studies and in conjunction with partners, has been to seek the endowment necessary to create a stable, long-term platform, capable of serving this developing international discourse and associated professional, charitable and academic communities, by providing world-recognised academic leadership and strategic thinking.

The St Hilda Chair in Catholic Social Thought and Practice – named in honour of the great North East saint (614-680) and abbess of the joint monastery at Whitby, host to the Synod of Whitby that determined how the date of Easter would be calculated throughout the Western Church – builds upon significant existing expertise within both the Department of Theology and Religion and the Business School at Durham University. The establishment of the post also coincides with the anticipated arrival of Dr Anna Rowlands, Inaugural Chair of the UK Centre for Catholic Social Thought and Practice, as the incoming Deputy Director of the CCS (from September 2014).

Professor Paul D Murray, Dean and Director of the CCS, said: “The CCS within the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham is delighted to be host to this significant new post dedicated to leading research and practical implementation in relation to Catholic Social Thought and Practice. This is a unique step for a secular university to take and one which opens great potential for the academic and Catholic communities alike.”

Dr Anna Rowlands, Chair of the UK Centre for Catholic Social Thought and Practice, said: ‘The establishment of the St Hilda Chair in Catholic Social Thought and Practice is a superb example of what Pope Francis has been calling for in indicating the need for Catholic Social Teaching traditions to be developed in relation to specific geographical, cultural, and political contexts. The member organisations of the UK Centre for Catholic Social Thought and Practice are enthused about this development and look forward to working closely with the first post-holder.”

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster and President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, said: “This development comes at a time of widespread interest in exploring what can be gained from Catholic Social Teaching in response to challenges facing our society. This clearly demonstrates the vital contribution we can make to the flourishing of society in pursuit of the common good.”

Cardinal Peter Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said: “Indeed the time has urgently come to educate and form men and women in Catholic Social Thought and Practice. Their challenge is to integrate this discipline into their faith life, and through greater dialogue and principled leadership, to implement it in social and charitable efforts, in economic and commercial enterprises, and in communications, politics and culture. This challenge the new St Hilda Chair established at Durham University is amply endowed to help them take up."

Durham is England’s third oldest university which includes a medieval UNESCO World Heritage Site, shared with Durham Cathedral. For more information see: www.durham.ac.uk

In 2007 the University established the UK’s first permanent Centre for Catholic Studies in the public university system, followed in May 2008 by the establishment of the Bede Chair of Catholic Theology, the first endowed Chair in Catholic Theology since the Reformation. Theology and Religion at Durham was ranked first in the key criteria in the most recent (2008) UK Government Research Assessment Exercise; second in the UK in the 2014 Complete University Guide; and third in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2014. For more information see: www.dur.ac.uk/theology.religion/ccs/