Maryvale rocked by resignations

One of the Church’s most important higher education establishments was in turmoil this week after the sudden resignation of its acting director.

Three other staff members are also understood to have departed unexpectedly from the Maryvale Higher Institute of Religious Sciences in Birmingham, which specialises in part-time and distance learning.

On Monday the acting director, Dr Petroc Willey, announced he was leaving for “personal reasons”. He had taken over the role after the previous director, Mgr Paul Watson, stepped down in September last year after 12 years in the post. Dr Willey had worked at Maryvale in various roles for more than 20 years and only last year was appointed by Benedict XVI as consultor to the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelisation.

He and a colleague, Dr Caroline Farey, attended the Synod on the New Evangelisation in Rome last year. Dr Farey, academic ­assistant to the director for ecclesiastical development, is also understood to have resigned but declined to confirm her departure to The Tablet.

In a letter breaking the news of his resignation to the institute’s students, Dr Willey wrote that a number of other staff had also made similar decisions.

Maryvale is supported by many conservative Catholics and states that all its courses are built around the texts of the Church’s Magisterium.

No explanation for the sudden loss of staff was immediately forthcoming from the Archdiocese of Birmingham, which oversees the institute, or from the Archbishop of Birmingham, Bernard Longley, who chairs the trust fund responsible for administering the institute.

A statement by the trustees, issued by the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales’ press office, thanked Dr Willey for his service and announced that Fr Edward Clare – who had been working at Maryvale full-time since September – was to become the acting director.

The diocesan treasurer, Canon John Carlyle, admitted that there had been “a fast-moving situation” on Tuesday as Maryvale’s trustees met to consider the crisis. “We are still unsure of how many people have resigned, we are still trying to find out what is going on,” he said. He was unaware of any major problems within the institute, but added: “Every organisation has problems of some kind or other.”

On Tuesday this week, Fr Clare wrote a ­letter to students reassuring them about Maryvale’s future. In it he said: “I realise that many of you will be surprised and saddened by Petroc’s decision to resign from Maryvale, and I am writing to you now to reassure you that the future of the institute remains secure and that the continuation of your studies will not be jeopardised by his departure, or that of any other member of staff. All future study days, weekends and others events will take place as already arranged.”

Fr Clare had been appointed director of the department for parish and family ­catechesis in Easter last year while also serving as a parish priest.

The site of Maryvale has been in Catholic occupation since the Middle Ages. Formerly Oscott House, it came to the Church in 1702 at the bequest of Fr Andrew Bromwich, who had inherited the property from his family. In 1980 it became a catechetical centre for the Archdiocese of Birmingham. In 1999, a convent for Bridgettine sisters was built in the grounds.