Diocesan Registry - Diocese of Leeds

Peter Foskett is Registrar of the Diocese and Legal Secretary to the Bishop of Leeds, Registrar of the Consistory Court of the Diocese and Legal Adviser of the Diocesan Synod.

Staff in the Registry

Registry Assistants: Beverley Mightly and Ailish Brown

The Registrar and his staff are available to give advice to:

• the Bishop, suffragan bishops and archdeacons of the Diocese
• authorised clergy (stipendiary and non-stipendiary) in the Diocese
• chairman and secretaries of boards, councils and committees of the Diocese
• rural deans and lay chairman of deanery synods in the Diocese
• churchwardens and secretaries of PCC's in the Diocese
• on legal matters properly arising in connection with the discharge of their ecclesiastical synodical and parochial offices.

Advice is also available to bona fide enquirers concerning the law of marriage, baptism, confirmation and burial of the dead (coffin burials and cremated remains) according to the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England.

The Registrar and his staff prepare and register all documents required in connection with ordination, instituting and licensing of clergy and others under canon law, licensing of buildings for public worship and the consecration of churches and burial grounds.

There are some restrictions on the amount of advice and work that may be done in the Registry without payment of a fee. Guidance is given where appropriate.

For further guidance about the practice in the Diocese of  Leeds please click on the links below. All guidance is general and it is not intended as definitive advice about any specific matter. If you require specific legal advice about particular circumstances, then you should consult your solicitor or the Registrar of the Diocese of Leeds by email to registryleeds@luptonfawcett.law

• Legal Help for Churchwardens
• Getting Married in Church
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Hours for the solemnisation of marriages in the Church of England: Explanatory Note: October 2012
• Procedure for publishing banns of matrimony: Explanatory Note of legal changes: 22 November 2012