Marriage and Family Life Project Office

The Marriage and Family Life Project Office sits within the Department for Christian Responsibility and Citizenship at the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. It was set up in 2003 to support the ‘diocesan conversations’ project Listening 2004: My Family My Church, the bishops’ response to the 10th anniversary of the 1994 International Year of the Family. In April 2003, the bishops agreed a proposal to hold a series of diocesan conversations on marriage and family life during 2004, in order to more clearly understand how best marriage and family life could be supported by the Church. Another aim of Listening 2004 was to clarify the remit of a new national post for MFL, created in 2002 following a review of the Department’s priorities. On conclusion of the listening project the bishops identified a new tranche of work to follow up the findings, which were published in Not Easy But Full of Meaning: Catholic Family Life in 2004.  

Celebrating Family: Blessed, Broken, Living Love consists of three separate but related projects:

• Everybody’s Welcome - supporting parishes to become more welcoming, friendly and family-sensitive (launched 2006)

• Home is a Holy Place - supporting families and the wider community to become more aware of the holiness of life at home (launched 2007)

• Passing on the Faith - supporting parents and grandparents in passing on faith in God (launched in 2009).

In 2007 an additional strand was added to the work of the Project Office: management of the Celebrating Family Fund. This fund grew out of the Bishops' Faith in the Future fundraising initiative and has resulted so far in 13 local projects to strengthen diocesan capacity for marriage and family life ministry around England and Wales 2008-2011 plus a Leadership Development Project. 

Key Personnel

Rt Rev John Hine, Chair of the Committee for Marriage and Family Life | Elizabeth Davies, Marriage and Family Life Project Officer | Hannah Moruzzi, Communications and Projects Adviser | 

Rt Rev John Hine, Chair of the Bishops' Committee for Marriage and Family Life 

Bishop Hine visiting His Holiness Pope Benedict during the Bishops' Ad Limina visit in 2010.

For biographical information please visit the websites of the Archdiocese of Southwark and the Catholic Bishops' Conference.

Elizabeth Davies, Marriage and Family Life Project Officer 

Elizabeth was appointed Marriage and Family Life Project Officer at the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales in 2003 and currently works to ensure adequate support for dioceses implementing the Bishops' Celebrating Family initiatives. 

Her commitment to family ministry began in 1994 when she was commissioned, along with many others, by Rt Rev Daniel Mullins, Bishop of Menevia as a parish family ministry contact. The following year she joined the diocesan core group and in 2000 was invited to join the Bishops' Committee for Marriage and Family Life, chaired at that time by Bishop, now Archbishop, Peter Smith. 

Elizabeth holds an MA in Community Leadership (Family Ministry) from Regis University, Denver and has trained as a Registered Director for Rainbows and a Marriage Care marriage preparation facilitator.  Elizabeth is currently a part-time Professional Doctorate student at Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology, Cambridge and co-tutors each Spring an online CCRS module Introducing Family Spirituality for St Bede's Institute, Ushaw. 

Besides the Bishops' Committee, Elizabeth has served as a member of the executive committee of Churches Together for Families and a FLAME Trustee. In 2000 she co-founded the Bethany Family Institute as a resource for those engaged in family ministry and spirituality.

Elizabeth works from home in Wolverhampton and is also the very proud mother of two teenagers and two young adults.    

Contact details: Email: Elizabeth.Davies@cbcew.org.uk  Tel: 07817 479694  Skype: Elizabeth.Davies41 Post: MFL Projects Officer, 39 Eccleston Square, London SW1V 1BX  

Hannah Moruzzi, Communications and Projects Adviser 

Hannah joined the MFL Project Office in September 2010, and for the next two years will work in support of those dioceses which have benefitted from the Celebrating Family Fund; helping to communicate the success of their project work within and beyond the Catholic community - through the Celebrating Family website, monthly e-bulletin and other Media.  

A Social Anthropology graduate and mother of three, Hannah has spent the past eight years as a full-time mum. In her early professional life Hannah worked in the travel and recruitment industries before joining the Foreign and Commonwealth Office - where she qualified as a Management Consultancy practitioner. Hannah is a keen cook, writer and gardener.

Contact details (term-time only): Email: Hannah.Moruzzi@cbcew.org.uk  Tel: 0754 884 0970   Skype: hannah.moruzzi  Post: MFL Communications and Projects Adviser, 39 Eccleston Square, London SW1V 1BX