Dr Liam Hayes

Dr Liam Hayes

Senior Fellow

Dr Liam Hayes is the newly appointed Director of the Centre for Ecclesial Ethics at the Margaret Beaufort Institute. The Centre for Ecclesial Ethics has been established with the aim of enabling and equipping the Church, both local and universal, to become a better Church in its witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Through interdisciplinary analysis and dialogical engagement across the pilgrim people of God, the Centre will engage with the emerging challenges that confront the Church today.

In his doctoral research Liam explored the disjunction between Catholic teaching and practice in the domain of sexual ethics and the significant role that experience plays in the moral discernment of Catholic women and men. Liam continues to explore the importance of experience as a moral theological locus, the significance that the tutoring role of the ecclesial community occupies in the moral decision making of Catholics today, and the importance of deep attentive listening for the renewal and future flourishing of the Church.

Liam is a priest of the Diocese of Brentwood, where he serves as part of the team at St.  Stephen’s Catholic Parish in Manor Park, London. Liam also works with CAFOD as its Clergy and Theology Strategy Adviser. In his leisure time Liam enjoys cycling, music, cooking and playing the piano badly!