Southwark Report Internals final single

Chief Operating Officer’s Report
Foreword by Paul McCallum
2021 was a busy year for the lay staff who support the grassroots mission in the Archdiocese
of Southwark. We were stunned to lose Canon Richard Hearn, Moderator of the Curia, who
died in October. He brought great energy, humour and humility to his role and under his
leadership a lot of effort went into supporting Parishes and schools who, like everyone else,
had to respond to the changing COVID rules and lockdowns. Monsignor Gerry Ewing – who
replaced Canon Richard in 23rd March 2022 – has brought wise counsel and experience to
the role, which has greatly helped our central services team.
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I am incredibly grateful for all of the hard work
undertaken by our staff, who often go above and
beyond the call of duty. This support took many guises,
ranging from support to catechists and Clergy training
through to helping Parishes adapt their finances and
fundraising to the new reality and ensuring our retired
Clergy receive care and attention in extraordinary
times. In recent times the support provided for our
new Caritas initiative has been very impressive.
While our regular range of activities continued, we
also dealt with a number of major projects, all aimed at
helping to support Catholic life in the Archdiocese:
• School leadership is essential to our future and
the Education Commission began laying the
foundations for improved governance at our
schools and academies, not least by assisting in
the creation of the South East London Catholic
Academy Trust.
• The Agency for Evangelisation and Catechesis
helped coordinate the synodal process, which fed
into our national submission, which then goes
towards the European submission to Rome in
readiness for the Synod meeting in 2023.
• Our Safeguarding team implemented new systems
and processes aimed at ensuring Clergy, volunteers,
parishioners and staff had the training necessary to
do their jobs and the confidence to ask questions,
provide challenge and seek assistance. New
national governance arrangements have been
adopted seamlessly and the Archdiocese has
volunteered to be audited against the 8 new
nationals standards in 2022, contributing to our
journey towards a culture of safeguarding.
• Technology underpins modern society. In 2021 we
commissioned a new website to help promote the
Good News (https://rcaos.org.uk) and to encourage
participation. We hope that you like the new
website, which is accompanied by a ‘Resource
Centre’ where Clergy and volunteers can access
lots of useful information to help them operate
their Parishes. Behind the scenes we continue
to invest in information security and we are
looking forward to achieving ‘Cyber Essentials’
accreditation in 2023.
• Security goes beyond safeguarding and technology;
in 2021 a new service was launched to support
Health and Safety in Parishes, with in house-staff
being focused on helping parishes be confident
they comply with essential requirements. In 2022
we embarked upon a programme of Fire Risk
Assessments across all of our Churches.
On a personal basis I try to support the Archbishop and
his Trustees to ensure that our organisation operates
effectively and that those Parish volunteer groups
that need support, such as the dedicated groups that
wish to resettle refugees through the Community
Sponsorship Scheme, receive help at the right time. My
roles as a Director of Safe Spaces – a charity aiming to
help abuse victims – and the Catholic Insurance Service
demonstrate Southwark’s commitment to support the
common good beyond our boundaries.