Religious Life Institute

The mission of the Religious Life Institute is to foster a theological vision of Christian religious life through study and research.

This mission is expressed through the following aims

1. To offer accredited courses of study about the religious life in English to British and overseas students

2. To undertake in-depth research about the religious life

3. To support religious life today by

i. fostering a new generation of writers and experts to help religious look beyond the post-conciliar agenda

ii. developing a renewed appreciation of the place of the consecrated life within the Church

iii. generating good materials that reflect this understanding and making them widely available through a variety of media.

By using contemporary academic methods such as action research and the training of reflective practitioners, these aims will be undertaken in a way that balances study and experience. The RLI offers

• an MA programme in religious life studies open to current and visiting students of Heythrop College

• Study days on topics relevant to lifelong learning within religious congregations

• To undertake research into the theology and the spirituality of religious life including the current state of religious life

Study day speakers have included:

Dr. Gregory Collins OSB, Glenstall Abbey, Ireland on ‘For you and for all’: Religious Life Transforming Symbols

Dr. Helen Costigane SHCJ and Francis Davies, Las Casas Institute, Blackfriars, Oxford, on Religious Life and Public Benefit: Perspectives from Canon Law

Dr. James Sweeney CP & Dr. Gemma Simmonds CJ on Religious Life in the Church

Dr. Gerald A. Arbuckle, SM on Refounding in a Postmodern Age