Bishops appoint top canon lawyer to oversee establishment of National Tribunal Service

Dr Morgan, image St Gabriel News and Media

The Catholic bishops of England and Wales have appointed Dr Edward Morgan, a barrister and an internationally-respected expert inThe Code of Canon Law, to oversee the establishment of a National Tribunal Service as part of wide-ranging development of safeguarding structures and processes in the Church.

The National Tribunal Service, among the first of its kind to be set up anywhere in the world, is to be established following the 2019-2020 Elliott Review into safeguarding practices and processes within the Catholic Church.

Dr Morgan's legal practice has for many years included the conduct of regulatory and canon law cases. He is a Visiting Professor of Canon Law at the Catholic University at Leuven, Belgium, (where he teaches at post-graduate and doctoral level) and a Fellow of the University of Cardiff Centre for Law and Religion.

The National Tribunal Service will deal principally with regulatory cases, including clergy discipline. Providing a centralised process of adjudication, it will seek to address concerns of interested parties with enhanced transparency and due process.

The National Tribunal Service will provide the Catholic Church in England and Wales with the means and the opportunity to cultivate an internal professional regulatory body for the clergy.

As its name suggests, the National Tribunal Service will provide the means by which cases of clergy discipline and misconduct may be investigated and adjudicated upon at a national rather than diocesan level. With the approval of the Holy See, its rules of procedure will enable the National Tribunal Service to undertake this work on behalf of all of the bishops.

Dr Edward Morgan said: "I am very pleased to be entrusted with this work. Having contributed to the Elliott Review as a member of a working committee with other canonists from Ireland and Italy, I recognise that the National Tribunal Service has a central role to play in the Church's continued commitment to safeguarding, ecclesial discipline and accountability.

"The decision of the Bishops' Conference communicates the individual and collective resolve of the bishops to deliver on this commitment.

"As with other professional regulatory bodies, the National Tribunal Service will look to adopt procedures which will contribute to public confidence through the accommodation of the rights of all stakeholders. Prior to adoption, the rules of procedure will, of course, be submitted to the Holy See for approval."

The Most Rev. Malcolm McMahon, the Archbishop of Liverpool and Vice- President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, said: "We are fortunate indeed to have secured the services of an expert of the calibre of Dr Morgan. This is important work in the development of safeguarding in the Catholic Church and we are grateful for his commitment to the project."

Carol Lawrence, Project Implementation Director, said: "I am delighted that Dr Morgan is joining the Project Implementation Team. His wealth of experience and outstanding expertise will bring significant strength to the overall project."

The bishops in November accepted all the recommendations made by the Elliott Review, a "root-and-branch" examination of safeguarding in the Catholic Church, and wish to adopt them without delay.

The appointment of Dr Morgan comes just weeks after the bishops invited Carol Lawrence, the Financial Director of the Diocese of Shrewsbury, to take up the six-month post of Project Implementation Director with immediate effect to ensure all of the improvements are fully and swiftly implemented.

Mrs Lawrence sat on the panel of the Elliott Review and was a key member of the team that devised the proposed changes.

The bishops are adopting a "One Church" strategy which will place safeguarding in a comprehensive model covering religious institutions and other areas of ecclesial life as well as diocesan parishes and schools and other settings.

The establishment of the National Tribunal Service is part of a suite of measures which will see the transfer from existing structures and the creation of a single Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency with the power to enforce uniformly high standards of protection.

The process of implementing the work of the Elliott Review will involve working closely with survivors, dioceses, Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, safeguarding coordinators, the lay faithful and others to fulfill the recommendations made in the Elliott Review.

LINKS

Report on Catholic Church by Independent Inquiry Into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA): www.iicsa.org.uk/investigations/investigation-into-failings-by-the- catholic-church

Response of Catholic bishops of England and Wales to IICSA report: www.cbcew.org.uk/statement-on-safeguarding/