The Committee for Art and Architecture first met on 16th February 1995. The committee oversees the renovation, removal or addition of space, fixtures and fittings of non-listed parish churches in the Archdiocese of Birmingham. The committee is made up of both priests and lay experts. The collection comprises the paper documents of applications to the committee for Art and Architecture (AAC) from 1995-2017. The records are archives according to their corrosponding archival parish number (P1,2,3 etc.) and not their parish reference number.
Church buildings exist for the worship of God and to serve the mission of the Church. They are sacred buildings which need and deserve to be cared for and cherished. Canon Law requires that clergy must ‘carefully supervise the administration of goods’ (Canon 1276) and take ‘special care that damage will not be suffered by the Church through the non-observance of the civil law’ (Canon 1284 §2, 3o). In the Archdiocese of Birmingham this vigilance is exercised by the Art and Architecture Committee (for non-listed buildings). The Committee first met on the 16th February 1995. The committee is made up both of priests and a variety of lay experts including architects, artists, art historians and representatives of English Heritage and the national amenity societies. The members are appointed by the Archbishop for a three year term.