THE P
RTAL
PORTAL NEWS
April 2011 Page 4
Interview with Fr Marcus Stock by Jackie Ottaway and Ronald Crane
It was a pleasant day in early March when we arrived at Victoria Station to make the short walk to the Offices of the Catholic Bishop ’ s Conference of England and Wales in Eccelston Square , and believe it or not , got lost so that we needed to hail a taxi to get us there on time !
Fr Marcus Stock , the General Secretary of the Catholic Bishops ’ Conference of England and Wales welcomed us into his office with some excellent coffee . He gave us an outline of his work at Eccelston Square . The General Secretary has two roles : the first is to service all the Bishops of England and Wales . The second role is that he is Company Secretary to the Catholic Trust of England and Wales . This is a vehicle for national collections of money for national and special events .
“ I help the President of the Conference set the agenda for two meetings and four Standing Committee meetings every year ,” he said . It was pointed out to us that only the Bishops are members of the Conference .
Charitable Trust
Fr Stock explained that every Catholic Diocese is a Charitable Trust . Eccelston Square is at the service of the local Dioceses . He was anxious to affirm that “ We are not a rubber-stamp for the Dioceses .” These Charitable Trusts very in age , Birmingham was set up in 1931 , Hallam more recently . But they all deal with housing , buildings , schools and the like . So each Diocese has its own Charitable Trust for local needs , and the national one is for national needs .
Fr Stock took us through the structure of the Catholic Church . “ It is hierarchical in structure . It is its own self-expression . Think of it as a pyramid if you like , from one angle you see one layer above another . Yet the proper view is from above . Look down on the pyramid from above . Then you see true communion .
You see the people of God gathered round their Bishop . Together they are in Communion with Peter . The Bishops are not the servants of the Pope ; they are the Father to their own people . Together they are all in Communion with Peter .”
Cardinal Newman
He continued , “ Cardinals are those who occupy one of the ancient churches in Rome . Each Cardinal is the Parish Priest of a church in Rome . There have been lay and priest Cardinals as well , Newman for example . There were once the counsellors to the Bishop of Rome , which is why they elect the Pope .”
We learned that Provinces of the Church work together in the context of the Bishops ’ Conference , but with the Archbishop of Westminster in the chair . It appears that there are national policies , but Canon Law is clear that the rights of each Diocesan Bishop are paramount . For a joint policy to be agreed it must get a 2 / 3rds majority and receive the approval of Rome .
“ We are not a regulatory body where everything comes from Rome . It is the other-way round . It all comes from the local church and is then sent to Rome .”
A bit of both !
We wanted to know if Fr Marcus brought things together , or did he run things . He laughed and said , “ A bit of both ! I am the Chief Executive of the Trust and of the Secretariat . I make things happen , and bring things together . I could not make a decision that was binding on the Bishops , rather I serve them . Yet I do need some executive authority to bring things together