Recruitment

What is a Bishops’ Conference?

The Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales is a permanent assembly of Catholic Bishops’ in these countries. It is an expression of the collegiality of the Bishops. Through it they proclaim the Gospel to the people of England and Wales as a whole.

The ASSEMBLY, SECRETARIAT, DEPARTMENTS, OFFICES and AGENCIES of the Conference all:

Develop and offer assistance
To each Bishop to help fulfil his ministry as a Diocesan Bishop

Effect and give cohesion
To the Bishops’ Gospel witness to the people of England and Wales (including other Christians and other religions)

Foster and express communion
With the Church in other nations, the Universal Church and the Pope

What are our five core values?

Catholic values come from the Word of God revealed in Scripture and Tradition. They are objective and given, but they have to be lived out and practised. The differing degrees to which Catholic values are present in our work and structures reflect their eschatological nature. By this we mean that Gospel values are already present but not yet fully so. We are called both to recognise and to live, deepen and extend these values. We need more and more to become what our faith reveals us already to be.

Values are more than words, but they need to be expressed in words, stories and images. They apply to us as individuals and as an organisation.

Inclusivity
By Inclusivity we mean that we respect and seek to restore the God-given dignity of each person and honour their variety and difference. We recognise and strive to develop each one's potential for the benefit of the Church and themselves. We aim for work-patterns which promote a balance between work and home-life. We seek to involve everybody at the appropriate level in planning and decision-making (subsidiarity). In all this we aim to be an example of best practice.

Service
We take the Lord Jesus as our model of Service. We recall that He came to serve rather than to be served, and that He no longer calls us servants but friends. We see our mission as primarily to enable the Bishops to serve the People of God. We aim to achieve this by teamwork involving lay and clergy alike. We celebrate each other's sense of vocation and seek to discern how best to exert ourselves for the benefit of the Church and of others.

Solidarity
Through Solidarity we recognise and seek to extend and deepen the bonds of communion (in faith, hope and love) which unite us in the Body of Christ, the Church. We believe that the actions and experiences of each one of us affect us all. We seek to support one another in our work-patterns. We aim to communicate more effectively in a spirit of mutual understanding and respect and to share appropriate information as widely as possible while respecting confidentiality.

Spirituality
The Holy Spirit is active throughout creation. We strive to discern the presence and gifts of the Spirit in individuals and in the structures of the Church. By Spirituality we mean that the Kingdom of God is present in our working, praying and being together and that these contribute to the building up of the Body of Christ, the Church, and the furtherance of its mission. We encourage each other to recognise that in our professional co-operation and our staff celebrations the Holy Spirit can reveal the deeper reality of what we are and do.

Stewardship
Jesus has entrusted the Church with His mission and the means of salvation for all people. By Stewardship we mean that we strive to be faithful to Christ and the Church in treasuring, developing, sharing and handing on what we have received. We recognise that the resources we use have come from the People of God and been entrusted to us by the Bishops. We seek to use them as wisely and effectively as possible, especially to benefit those most in need, and to be accountable for their use.