New diocesan chancellor is Lyle Crocker

Intermountain Catholic

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Lyle Crocker

SALT LAKE CITY — The new chancellor for the Diocese of Salt Lake City is Lyle Crocker, a CPA and transplant from the Midwest, who came to Utah in 2006.

"What appealed to me was the weather and the quality of life," he said. "I was from Michigan. You can go for a month without seeing the sun in Michigan. I met my wife here, settled down and it’s been great here ever since."

A member of Saint Andrew Parish in Riverton, Crocker has two children with his wife, who is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Born in Indiana, Crocker attended high school in Michigan, then went on to get his college degree from Western Michigan University. From there he took a job at one of the big six accounting firms in Detroit. Then, after almost 10 years with Ford Motor Company, he decided to strike out on his own.

As a self-employed CPA, he had a client in Utah and decided to move here, where his sister also was living. He started working for tech companies, but then came the recession, which hit hard in that industry. Two years ago he was hired by the Diocese of Salt Lake City as an internal auditor in the finance office.

His new position involves "a wide variety of responsibilities," he said, everything from changing light bulbs to compiling reports for Rome, supervising Mount Calvary Catholic Cemetery and overseeing collections for national efforts such as the Feb. 13 Collection to Aid the Church in Central and Eastern Europe.

"It’s basically anything and everything that needs to be done," Crocker said. "That appeals to me. I like doing a lot of different things."

The chancellor is the official notary and is responsible for recording, gathering, arranging and safeguarding the records and archives of the diocese, said Monsignor Colin F. Bircumshaw, vicar general of the diocese.

Among other things, the chancellor maintains current statistical diocesan data and compiles diocesan spiritual and canonical reports, including entries for the Official Catholic Directory, the Ordo, Vatican statistical reports, publication of the diocesan directory and the Quinquennial Report.

In addition, the chancellor provides dispensations and permissions according to his office, is responsible for the maintenance of the Pastoral Center and the Chancery building and also serves as a public notary.

Crocker’s computer and record-keeping skills, especially his CPA background, "match the canonical requirements of his position and the increasing need for someone in this position to have current technology skills," said Msgr. Bircumshaw. "In the past, the role of chancellor was tied to the Moderator of the Curia, who needed to be a priest. Since these roles were separated in the new Code of Canon Law, the position can be filled by someone other than a priest – as it was by Deacon Silvio Mayo, the first deacon in the U.S. to fill that role. Increasingly in dioceses, this position has been filled by a religious woman or a competent lay man or woman."