MA in Catholic Applied Theology (Apologetics)

MA in Catholic Applied Theology (Apologetics)

This pathway is for anyone wishing to deepen their understanding of the rational foundations of the Catholic worldview in order to be able to engage effectively with the intellectual challenges posed by the secular culture of our time. It is of particular relevance to all involved in preaching and teaching the faith in schools, colleges and parishes.

Aims of the Programme

This pathway aims to foster knowledge and critical understanding of the rational grounds for the Catholic faith, intellectual objections to it, and the range of possible responses, enabling students to expound and defend the faith in the modern world.

Programme Structure

This MA is a 30-month, distance-learning course with short residential schools commencing each January. For the first 24 months, students work from home following specially designed module course books, and associated reading, and submitting assignments based upon this reading. The final 6 months of the course focus on the writing of a 20,000-word dissertation.

It is possible, within the structure of the MA Programme, to terminate with the award of a Postgraduate Certificate (after Year 1) or Postgraduate Diploma (after Year 2).

Programme Content

The areas covered include:

• Introduction to Apologetics
• Christian Anthropology
• Philosophy, God and Science
• The Historical Jesus and the Church
• Catholic Sexual Ethics
• Controversial Issues from Church History
• Controversial Issues in Modern Apologetics
• Research Methods

Accessibility

If you have a disability or any long-term condition that impacts on your day-to-day life, please download the Accessibility Form, open and edit it in Acrobat Reader, and email or post the completed document to the Accessibility Coordinator (address included on the form), to ensure we can give you the best possible support during your course of study. Disclosing a disability will not be a factor in the Institute’s decision as to whether or not to offer you a place on the course. However, it is important that the Institute knows if you have any special needs in order to provide you with appropriate support and facilities. This information will remain strictly confidential.

Admission to the Programme

Students conform to the formal admissions requirements of the Institute, which have been approved by the Open University. Candidates are normally expected to have an honours degree (2:2 or above) or equivalent academic or professional qualifications. Applicants who can show that they have covered the material of specific modules, and who have gained academic credit for this work elsewhere at a postgraduate level, may be allowed the exemption for up to four modules at the Institute’s discretion. Apart from these academic qualifications, candidates are asked to submit in writing a 500-word statement making clear the ways in which the content and processes integral to their chosen course relate to their intellectual and apostolic aspirations. The intention here is to ensure that candidates have an understanding of the contribution that higher studies might make to their personal and professional/vocational life, and an acceptable attitude regarding the demands, intellectually and personally, that the course could be expected to make on them. The Institute, with the approval of the Open University, participates in the University's credit transfer arrangements. Those interested in further information concerning these arrangements should write to the Programme Director.

Policy on the Admission and Support of Students with English as a Second Language

All higher education programmes offered by Maryvale Institute are written, delivered and assessed exclusively in English. On application the Institute requires evidence of proficiency in written and spoken English; the evidence of proficiency required for entry into courses is as follows:

 - International English Language Testing System (IELTS): Minimum average of 6.5 overall, with no sub-test below 6.0.
 - Michigan Test of English Language Proficiency (MTELP): Minimum equated score of 90.
 - Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL): Minimum paper-based total of 550, computer-based total of 213, or Internet-based total of 79.
 - Cambridge Certificate in Advanced English (CAE): Minimum grade of B.
 - Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE): Minimum grade of C.
 

Students who cannot demonstrate proficiency in English to the satisfaction of the Institute are required to take a short written examination which tests reading level and understanding, and facility in written English. This is designed, provided and assessed by the Institute. Dictionaries are allowed for the purposes of the exam. As a standard procedure, all students for whom English is not their first language are identified at the relevant Assessment and Examinations Board. Students who are deemed not to have passed may retake the exam, having demonstrated that they have undergone further instruction in English. Students who demonstrate a minimal level of proficiency may be accepted onto the course at the discretion of the Institute provided they give clear evidence of their plans for further improving their English.

Application and Registration

An Application Form is enclosed with this brochure (an electronic version is available on request, or may be downloaded from the Institute website). A non-returnable application fee of £50.00 is required when making an application for the course. Full fees for Year 1 are required once you have been registered for the course and must be paid before the first weekend of the course.

Admissions Process

When you have sent back your application form, an application fee to cover the administrative costs associated with the admissions process, a statement of why you would like to take this course, and once the references which you will have arranged to have sent to us have arrived, your application will be considered by the person at Maryvale Institute responsible for admissions to this course. (Note: These references are treated as confidential between the referee and the Institute).

We will then write to you telling you whether you have been admitted to the course. (You may be asked to come to the Institute for an interview, or we may phone you in order to clarify any details in your application. On the whole, however, we prefer to avoid face-to-face interviews because of the distances that may be involved.)

Assuming that your application is successful, you will be sent an ‘acceptance pack’, including further information about Maryvale Institute and the course. This includes details of how to apply for a student card. An invoice for your fees will be sent to you in November, prior to your beginning the course. Once we have received your fees for the first year you are formally enrolled as a student of the Institute.

If for any reason your application for a place on the course is not successful, the Institute reserves the right, because of the elements of confidentiality involved in the admissions process and the collection of references, not to give you the reasons for this decision. If at any stage you are dissatisfied with the admissions process we would advise you to follow the complaints procedure of the Institute: a copy of this can be found on the Institute’s website under ‘About’, or you can order a copy from the Institute’s library. We will endeavour to ensure that your questions are dealt with promptly and professionally.

About Maryvale.

Maryvale lies at the centre of the ancient settlement of Oscott, about five miles from Birmingham City Centre. With its charming buildings, in which Christian values and prayer are almost tangible, its long and interesting history and peaceful grounds, Maryvale is spiritual ‘home’ to many.

It has been the aim of the Maryvale Institute from its inception to provide opportunities for lay people, clergy and religious to achieve a deeper understanding of the faith and to appreciate more clearly its joyful message for the lives of individuals and communities. Maryvale stands within the Catholic theological tradition, whose riches it seeks to explore, and draws from that tradition an insistence, not only on the foundational importance of faith for theological reasoning, but also on the place of reason in the response of faith. In pursuance of this, the Institute provides opportunities for Catholic formation and education through courses across a wide range of subjects and levels.

Maryvale has a well-equipped library, where internet access and computers are available to students, together with multi-media and audio-visual resources. The House can accommodate up to 150 people on a daily basis in its lecture, conference and seminar rooms, and has study bedrooms to accommodate 40 students. The Bridgettine Sisters welcome guests and maintain a regular cycle of prayer in the Chapel. The Shrine to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a popular place of pilgrimage. The grounds include a Rosary walk with Stations of the Cross, ample car parking, and easy access to numerous sites of historic interest, Oscott College, the Birmingham Oratory and Birmingham City Centre.

A Historic Spiritual Environment for Academic Work

Maryvale occupies a unique place in the history of the Catholic Church in England. Catholic worship has been celebrated continuously on the site for over 1000 years. The oldest part of the present building, originally called Oscott House, was the home of the Bromwich family, and the base for the local Catholic mission during the 17th and 18th centuries. Andrew Bromwich was one of the last priests to be imprisoned towards the end of the penal period, and when he inherited the family house he gave it over for the use of the Church as the English mission emerged from the shadows with the gradual relaxation of the anti-Catholic laws.

From 1794 to 1838 it became the first seminary established in England and, being placed under the patronage of Our Blessed Lady, became known as St Mary’s College, Oscott. When the seminary was relocated to a new and larger building in 1838 (in the area of Birmingham that is still called New Oscott) it was used as a school until in 1846 it became the home of Blessed John Henry Newman and his community of fellow converts. Following ordination in Rome, he established the first English Oratory there and renamed the house Maryvale.

After the Oratory moved to central Birmingham, Maryvale briefly became the novitiate for the Oblates of Mary Immaculate and was visited by their founder, St Eugene de Mazenod. Then for nearly 130 years, it housed an orphanage run by the Sisters of Mercy until they left in 1980 when it assumed its present role as an institute for adult faith formation.

Maryvale also contains Britain’s first public shrine to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, established by Bishop Milner in 1814, who built a small chapel to house an image of the Sacred Heart painted in glass as described by Saint Gertrude. The monthly first Friday devotions are held in the Institute chapel, and there is an annual novena leading up to the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart and culminating with a pilgrimage mass on the Sunday following.

Maryvale Chapel remained as the parish church and the centre of the local Catholic community until the new church of Our Lady of the Assumption was opened in the 1950s to accommodate the needs of the expanding Maryvale parish.

So as well as being a specialist educational centre, Maryvale is a place of worship, a place of pilgrimage and a spiritual community of prayer and mission. In 1999 sisters of the Order of the Most Holy Saviour of St Bridget - the Bridgettines - came to live at Maryvale in a new convent financed by Saint John Paul II. In addition to a deep devotion to our Lord’s sufferings and to the Blessed Sacrament, which is regularly exposed for adoration in the chapel, the sisters’ special charisms are contemplation, hospitality and prayer to foster unity among Christians.

The integration of study and prayer is a feature of all Maryvale courses and students participating in the day or short residential programmes at the Institute enjoy teaching and learning opportunities united to a cycle of prayer and worship, including Mass and the Divine Office.

A Place of Study

A Unique Academic Environment

Maryvale is committed to the highest academic and professional standards and is recognised internationally for these standards and its unique opportunities for distance learning based upon the Catholic philosophy of learning for life.

Whether you are training for a special ministry in the Church, looking for professional development, or seeking personal growth, Maryvale offers courses for all. It can help whether you are faced with the challenge of assisting in the parish, instructing a parish Confirmation group, or if you hope to stretch your academic capacity at masters or doctoral level.

All of Maryvale's courses can be audited

If you would like to follow one of Maryvale's courses without presenting work or seeking a qualification you are welcome to do so. All of the courses can be followed simply for one's personal interest and development. Students taking a course in this way receive the modules and follow the course without being eligible for a qualification.

Individual Needs

Many Further Education courses allow for the study of individual modules for those wishing to study a particular area; read the individual course pages for further information.

Special rates and arrangements are available for those wishing to use the Certificate in Studies of the Catechism in Formation Programmes for Religious and Pre-Seminarians (formerly Course for Religious).

Maryvale Institute's Vision and Mission

Vision

The vision for Maryvale Institute, as per the Trust Deed, is to be a diocesan, national and international college which:

• Lives and presents the Catholic faith, morality and its contribution to contemporary religious, moral and ethical issues;
• Provides a range of formation courses offered primarily, but not exclusively, to lay and consecrated religious members of the Church, especially those involved in catechesis or other lay apostolates;
• Takes a self-critical stance as an academic community in monitoring and evaluating its own courses and methods in the light of evidence gathered internally and that provided by external agencies to ensure the highest possible standards and relevance of its academic activities;
• Develops its courses and other activities according to the findings of ongoing evaluation procedures and in response to changing needs in the wider community, as advised by the Board of Trustees;
• Develops collaborative partnerships with other centres of Catholic theological education in the UK and elsewhere, and other UK higher education providers;

Mission Statement

• The Mission of Maryvale Institute is to be a leader in the provision of lifelong learning for all, and research opportunities, in Catholic Evangelisation, Catechetics, Theology, Philosophy and Religious Education in order to serve Christ’s mandate and his Church’s mission of evangelisation in contemporary society. This provision is a distinctive combination of the methodology of distance learning and critical engagement with the Word of God in Scripture and Tradition, guided by the Church’s Magisterium. This work is carried out within an environment of Christian Faith, of academic and administrative quality, of open dialogue and the mutual valuing of the work, gifts and the personal and professional development of every member of the Institute.