The Catholic Church in England and Wales

Bishops' Conference of England and Wales

The organisational structure of the Roman Catholic Church at a national level is through Episcopal, or Bishops', Conferences. A single Episcopal Conference covers England and Wales; there are separate Conferences for Scotland and for Ireland. Within a populous region such as England and Wales, the numerous dioceses, each under the supervision of a bishop, are organised in provinces. The five provinces in England and Wales are Westminster, Birmingham, Cardiff, Liverpool and Southwark. The senior diocese in each province is an archdiocese, presided over by an archbishop. It is normally the archbishop who is responsible for new ordinations to the priesthood.

There is also a separate Bishopric of the Forces, which provides Catholic Chaplains to the Armed Forces, and encompasses anywhere in the world that United Kingdom military personnel are serving or deployed.

Website of the Episcopal Conference of England and Wales

Province of Birmingham

St Werburgh's Parish, in the Diocese of Shrewsbury, is part of the Province of Birmingham. The Diocese of Birmingham attained the status of an archdiocese in 1911, and fulfils the role of the metropolitan, or primary, diocese, within an ecclesiastical province that contains the suffragan dioceses of Shrewsbury and Clifton.

Website of the Archdiocese of Birmingham