THE P RTAL
December 2014
Page 21
Finances have not been easy. We are learning to trust
in the Lord. Pope Francis spoke about a poor Church;
well, we’re certainly that! We have no assets. We’ve
had one or two donations, from the Catholic Bishops
of England and Wales, from Pope Benedict and from
the American Papal Fund and, of course, from The
Catholic League, but we have to exist on the donations
of the faithful. We are trying to encourage our groups
to give realistically a proportion of their income as a
“tax” to central funds.
Jackie O: Would you like to say something about
the Clergy Relief fund?
Mgr KN: We have no pension fund. Priests having
only ten or fifteen years’ service in the CofE will have
a very small pension when they retire. We have set up
Jackie O: You are assisted in the governance of a charity which can pay out to people on a needs basis.
the Ordinariate of OLW by the Governing Council, We currently have about £37,000 in it, but that is a
a statutory body, and two non-statutory bodies, the very little and needs to grow substantially.
Ordinariate Council and the Coordinators’ meeting.
We also have a statutory obligation to have a pastoral
One of the obligations upon me is to look after the
council. When might this become a reality?
clergy incardinated into the Ordinariate and that
means looking after them in old age. We also need to
Mgr KN: We have a constitution and we have an help people should a priest die and leave dependents
elected membership. We also have a finance council in need. We have an insurance policy on the married
and are beginning to build that up with lay members clergy which will pay out if a priest dies in office.
with financial knowledge as well as clergy. The two
non-statutory bodies are there to advise me. The Jackie O: How do you see the role of the Friends in
Catholic Church is hierarchical, and I have more relation to the Ordinariate itself?
power in the governance of the Ordinariate than an
Anglican Bishop has in his diocese.
Mgr KN: The big difference between the Friends
and the Ordinariate itself is that the Friends are there
We’re dividing the country into clusters of groups to support its work and to make the Ordinariate better
with a coordinator to look after each. You’re quite understood. We, as the Ordinariate, need to be selfright that the Apostolic Constitution says that, unlike sufficient; to meet our running costs. The Friends are
a Catholic diocese, which may have a pastoral council, looking for donations from the wider Catholic Church.
we are obliged to have one. Starting this from scratch They help with projects where vR6