Mgr Dr Paul McPartlan has been installed as the Rector of Mater Ecclesiae College at a special installation Mass held in the St Mary’s University Chapel attended by H. E. Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Chancellor both of St Mary's and of Mater Ecclesiae, on Thursday 13th March 2025.
The Holy See confirmed the appointment of Mgr McPartlan with a decree dated 28th October 2024. Mgr McPartlan will hold the appointment for a period of five years.
The Mass was celebrated by Bishop John Sherrington. In his homily, he paid tribute to Mgr Rod Strange for his efforts and dedication during his period as the first Rector of Mater Ecclesiae College at St Mary’s.
Bishop Sherrington said, “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.”
Mgr McPartlan is a priest of the diocese of Westminster and Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology and Ecumenism at The Catholic University of America. After reading Mathematics at Cambridge and studying philosophy and theology in Rome, he gained his doctorate at Oxford in 1990.
He served for several years in a London parish, and then held a research fellowship at St Edmund's College, Cambridge. He taught theology at Heythrop College in the University of London (1995-2005) and at Catholic University in Washington (2005-2023), where he held the Carl J. Peter Chair of Systematic Theology and Ecumenism, and also served as Acting Dean of the School of Theology and Religious Studies in 2014-15.
Mgr McPartlan is also the author of The Eucharist Makes the Church: Henri de Lubac and John Zizioulas in Dialogue (1993, 2006), Sacrament of Salvation: An Introduction to Eucharistic Ecclesiology (1995), A Service of Love: Papal Primacy, the Eucharist, and Church Unity (2016), and over 100 articles and book chapters on ecclesiology and ecumenism. He edited John Zizioulas, Communion and Otherness (2006), and co-edited The Oxford Handbook of Ecumenical Studies (2021).
Mater Ecclesiae College is called to make a rich contribution to the intellectual and spiritual life of the Church in this country. It was established in 2019 as the continuation of the Bellarmine Institute, the Pontifical Faculties of Theology and Philosophy in relationship with Heythrop College, dating back to the House of Studies of the Society of Jesus in Louvain in 1614. Its programmes of study enable men and women, lay and clerical, to study together to deepen their understanding of the mysteries of faith in Jesus Christ and contribute to the Church’s missionary outreach by communicating these truths. The College aims to provide courses leading to ecclesiastical degrees at the Baccalaureate, Licentiate, and Doctoral levels, in both Theology and Philosophy.
Alongside his appointment as Rector of Mater Ecclesiae College, Mgr McPartlan has also been appointed a Professor in the St Mary’s School of Theology.
Mgr McPartlan will be giving his inaugural lecture at St Mary’s University on Tuesday 8th April 2025, titled “Vatican II, Synodality, and Catholic-Orthodox Dialogue”.