Many individuals freely give their time and expertise to ensure the running of the Catholic Archives Society and to ensure that its aims and purposes are successfully fulfilled. Its primary aims are to support heritage professionals working in religious collections and to promote the care of the archives of the Roman Catholic Church (diocesan, lay and religious), so enabling them:
- To be used for the efficient administration of the organisation they concern
- To be available for research and cultural uses
The Society is not funded by any outside agency and its officers are strictly honorary. Its income comes from subscriptions, profits from conference and training days, and the sale of publications.
The Society is not an archive repository and does not hold or collect archives..
Please note that the Society does not provide historical research services.
Constitution
The constitution of the Catholic Archive Society was last amended at the 2025 AGM and can be found here
The Council
The Council members meet several times a year. The current Council is comprised of the following members:
Abbot Geoffrey Scott – Hon. President
Abbot of Douai Abbey (1998 – 2022). Titular abbot of Lindisfarne and parish priest of Alcester (Warks). He serves as Benedictine librarian, archivist, and congregational annalist. He lectures in church history at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford and previously at St Mary’s College, Oscott, and St John’s Seminary, Wonersh. He is also a member of the Patrimony Committee of the English and Welsh Bishops’ Conference, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and of the Royal Historical Society.
Lawrence R. Gregory – Chairman
Lawrence was elected vice-chairman of the CAS in July 2023, becoming chairman in May 2024.. He has worked as the senior Archivist & UK Agent to the National Institute for Newman Studies, Pittsburgh, USA since 2016, having graduated from the University of Liverpool earlier that year with a master’s degree in Archival Science. He is currently reading for his PhD with Durham University; he also holds the position of Field Instructor with Duquesne University. Between 2004 and 2017 Lawrence worked concurrently as assistant archivist to the Diocese of Salford, and corporate tax records and compliance manager for a multinational electronics firm. In 2021 he was admitted as a member of British Mensa and in 2024 received the Award for Outstanding Individual Contribution from the British Association for Local History in association with the National Archives. His publications include the two-volume historical biographical studies of the Clergy of the Diocese of Salfordand his History of St Bede’s College, Manchester 1876-1950.
Dr Jonathan Bush – Vice-Chairman
Jonathan currently serves as vice-chair of the CAS, following a four‑year term as chair from 2020 to 2024. From 2015 to 2022, he also edited the CAS Journal, Catholic Archives. He earned his PhD in Church History from the University of Durham in 2013, having previously completed a MLitt in Archives and Records Management at the University of Dundee in 2010. He has spent nearly 20 years working in archives at Durham University, including a decade as archivist for the former Roman Catholic seminary at Ushaw College and managing the Catholic collections at Palace Green Library in Durham. In 2022–23, he was awarded an AHRC‑RLUK Professional Practice Fellowship, through which he conducted research and produced a report on the present and future management and storage of Catholic religious institute archives. Jonathan is also the author of several books and articles, among them Papists and Prejudice: Anti‑Catholicism and English‑Irish Conflict in the North East of England, 1845–70.”
Jon Purcell – Treasurer & Membership Secretary
Jon was elected to the joint post of Treasurer and Membership Secretary of CAS in 2023. A History graduate of Queen’s University Belfast Jon holds postgraduate qualifications in Librarianship, Management (MBA) and Human Resources Management / Organisational Psychology. Now retired, in his working life Jon was previously University Librarian and Director of Heritage Collections at Durham University. Previous posts have included library senior management posts at the Universities of Liverpool, Newcastle, and St. Andrews. He currently works for the Methodist Church in Britain in a volunteer role as Archivist Convenor for the North West England District of the Methodist Church.
Dr Claire Marsland – Secretary
Isabel Keating – Journal
Daniel Flint – Newsletter
Jenny Smith
Jenny has served on Council since 2021. She holds a BA in History from Cardiff University and qualified as a professional Archivist with a Diploma from the University of Liverpool in 2010. Jenny has experience of working in a Local Authority Archive when she undertook a Graduate Trainee Archivist post with Gloucestershire County Council, 2008 -2009. She has worked as Archivist for the Union off the Sisters of Mercy of Great Britain since 2010 and is based at St Mary’s Convent in Birmingham. As lone Archivist for the Congregation she has responsibility for all areas of Archival Management, as well as the operation of the Convent’s Heritage Centre.
Jenny Delves
Dr Isobel Staton
Our Patrons
Lay Patron: Dr Carmen Mangion.
Reader in the department of History, Classics and Archaeology at Birkbeck University. Co-founder in 2001 of the Historians of Women Religious in Britain and Ireland (H-WRBI), a network of approximately 300 international scholars connected via an electronic list and a website (http://www.history.ac.uk/history-women-religious/).
Religious Institute Patron: Sister Barbara Jeffery.
Former archivist for the Union of the Sisters of Mercy, Great Britain (1999 – 2009) and the Institute of Our Lady of Mercy (2011 – 2013). She held office as the Chair of the Catholic Archives Society, and in 2007 collaborated with Jack Scarisbrick from the Birmingham Diocesan Historical Commission, on The History of the Diocese of Birmingham (1850-2000).
Historic Patrons:
Our Historic Patrons are St Bede, Hemming and Mariota Blackburn , For more information on these patrons and how we came to adopt them, please click here
The Society has no formal links either with the Bishops’ Conferences in the countries where its members live or with the archives profession. Contacts with the latter are maintained by CAS members who are professional archivists.
catholicarchivesociety.org 