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  • Writer's pictureJim Khong

Catholic Soundbites 03 - Bishops

Updated: Feb 7


Bishops as far as the eye can see. More than 3000 Catholic bishops from all over the world gathered in the Sistine Chapel

There have been many aspects of the Catholic Church, that has always fascinated me ever since I was a boy. The decades of reading and research have opened up for me treasure troves upon treasure troves of information about the history, practices and peoples in the Church. It has informed my insights on the wide and deep wealth of traditions in the Church and how, as a human institution, she has developed squarely within the context of human history and human society. Much of this knowledge has been transmitted to children during my ministry as I discovered that I have been blessed with the gift of explaining complicated stuff in simple terms. So in this series, I hope to share what the good Lord has granted that I learn, and in sharing I seek His pleasure.

This is the third in the series and it is on bishops. This follows on from the Soundbite on Priests.


Bishops

Catholic bishops come from all countries and every Catholic in the world is in communion with each other through them

The bishop is the head of all Catholics in a particular area known as a diocese. The Church understands herself as a communion of communities. All Catholics in the world is in communion with one bishop or another. And every bishop is in communion with the Pope, and through him to all the other bishops in the world. In that way, every Catholic is in communion with every other Catholic in the world through their communion with their bishop and his communion with the Pope and the other bishops. No Catholic ever stands alone without any relationship with another Catholic. Your bishop is your door to the Universal Church.

You refer to the bishop as "Your Grace" or "His Grace". There are currently just over 5,000 Catholic bishops throughout the world. There are Catholic bishops in almost every country in the world.

Duties of a bishop The bishop's primary responsibility is to teach the faith and to govern his diocese. He is also the primary liturgist in his diocese and will decide how liturgies in his diocese are to be performed, with reference to Church laws, of course.

Doing what only a bishop can do: ordaining a deacon

The bishop has the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders and only bishops can administer all sacraments. Priests cannot administer the sacrament of Holy Orders. The bishop is the only one in the diocese who can ordain any man to the diaconate and the priesthood. He is also the only one who can confirm Catholics in the sacrament of Confirmation but he usually delegate this task to priests, who normally confirms adults at the same mass at the time of their baptism.

The bishop is assisted by some priests in the governance of the diocese. They may be selected to a Senate, or a college of consultors, whom the bishop consults before making any major decisions. The college of consultors also elects a priest to be an administrator when there is no bishop (if the bishop dies or resigns, for instance) until the Pope appoints a new bishop. Some of the older dioceses may have a cathedral chapter of priests called Canons, who advises the bishop. While the Church is clearly not a democracy (it is definitely a monarchy with the bishop in the position of the king), the bishop hears the voice of the people through these advisers when making his decisions, if not hearing it directly from the people.

Dioceses

Diocese initially follow the civil government boundaries. Now, the Church organises diocese according to her needs.

A diocese is an area under the jurisdiction of a bishop. It normally takes on the name of the main town or city of the diocese. In the early days of the Church, the bishop is normally located in the town, and from there he sends priests out to rural areas. The bishop is considered to be married to the Church, and to his diocese specifically. That's why he wears a ring. That also was why most bishops in the early Church do not get transferred or promoted to another larger diocese as that would be adultery.

When Christianity became the official religion in the Roman Empire, the Church was organised along the same lines as the administrative boundaries of the Empire. So, every provincial governor had a bishop as his religious counterpart. After the Empire collapsed, only the bishop remained as the authority in the diocese. To this day, some of the ancient dioceses in Italy retain those boundaries from the time of the Roman Empire.

The bishop's chair in a cathedral

Every diocese has a cathedral, which can be considered the parish church of the bishop. The word cathedral comes from the Latin word for chair. At the right hand side of every cathedral (right side of Jesus on the crucifix), there is a chair, which is the throne of the bishop. So, the cathedral is the seat of the bishop. The seat represents the teaching office of the bishop as historically, teachers in the ancient world teach sitting down.

There are today 2,898 Catholic dioceses throughout the world as of April 2020, each one having at least one bishop. Larger dioceses are known as archdioceses (more about archdioceses and archbishops later), and there are 640 of them included in the number above.

Dioceses vary in sizes. Some of the ancient dioceses around Italy and the Mediteranean may have only a few thousand Catholics. They were set up when those towns were large cities in the Roman Empire but the population has gone but the diocese remained. On the other end of the scale, I believe the largest one is the Archdiocese of Mexico City with 7 million Catholics and the archbishop there is assisted by nine bishops!

Apostolic Succession

List of the heads of the Catholic Church in England

In Westminster Cathedral in London, there is a plaque on the right side of the church (right side of the Jesus on the crucifix, left side as you enter the front door) next to the bookstore. This plaque lists the names of all the heads of the Church in England and Wales and the name of the Pope next to each one. The list stretches back to the first Pope, St Peter, and the first Archbishop of Canterbury, St Augustine of Canterbury.

All this in one single unbroken line. It tells us that the current Archbishop of Westminster teaches the same faith taught by the current Pope and that both of them teaches the same faith that has been handed down through the line of all the Popes from St Peter himself, who was taught the faith by Jesus himself.

We could include every single bishop in the world into this chart but imagine the size of the chart

This handing down of the faith is known as the Apostolic Succession. It is very important to us to emphasise that our faith is same as the one taught by Jesus himself, in one single unbroken line handing down the faith. Even Paul took great pains in the Bible to remind his readers that he teaches the same faith as St Peter, the first Pope.


Every diocese has a secret archive, in which is kept, among other things, the list of all bishops ever since the diocese was established. This list is important. As a friend of mine said when I explained it to her, its like knowing who your father is. You can check out this list and the Apostolic Succession of your diocese on Wikipedia.

Sacramentally, you only need one, Canonically you only need tow. But the more the merrier!!

The handing down is evident in the celebration to consecrate a bishop. Every Catholic bishop we have today was made a bishop by the laying of hands by three bishops (legally, only one is required to consecrate a bishop but we have three just in case there are doubts on the legality of any of the bishops), who themselves were made bishops by the laying of hands by three bishops, who themselves ...... until we have a bishop who was made bishop by the laying of hands by the Apostles, who were made bishops by Jesus Christ himself.

What a bishop wears

Bishops in crowns are Eastern rite bishops. The one on the left is Syro-Malakarese and wears the cap of the Syriac rite

The most distinctive part of the bishop's vestment is his headgear, called the mitre, worn only by the bishop when he is celebrating mass. In the Western Church, it is in the shape of a triangle, said to represent the Trinity, while those in the East are in the shape of crown with a cross on top. The mitre is generally white in colour and may be adorned with gold or precious stones. When presiding at mass in his own diocese, he also carry a crosier, which is the tall staff with a hook at the end. This is a shepherd's crook, which a shepherd uses to hook any straying sheep by the neck. It of course symbolises the bishop's role as the shepherd of his flock. The bishop normally holds it in his left hand (with the crook facing the people) so that he can use his right hand for blessings.

Wearing what only a bishop can wear: the mitre, the crosier, the pectoral cross and the ring

In addition to the crosier, the bishop is also given an episcopal ring at his consecration as bishop. Bishops are known to wear episcopal rings since the seventh century to symbolise his mystical marriage to the Church. Other than rings that a bishop buys himself or is given, all rings are deemed property of the Church and a bishop will inherit the ring collection of his predecessor. As such, some of these rings may date back many centuries. Some of the older rings can be quite large as the bishop wears it outside his episcopal gloves. It is customary for Catholics to kiss the ring of a bishop to symbolise our obedience and communion with him, and through him, the Pope and the rest of the Church.



Bishops in purple. Some where a simple zucchetto, others the boxy biretta

When at mass, the bishop wears the normal vestments of a priest (with the addition of his mitre and crosier) except that his cassock (the outer robe) is purple in colour. Purple was the colour of royalty because in ancient times, it was the most expensive colour to make, being grounded from rare seashells. Over the cassock, he will have a pectoral cross, a large cross with a long chain that leaves it hanging on his belly. The bishop has to kiss the cross and say a prayer while he puts it on.

Outside of mass, the bishop normally wears a cassock like a priest does, except that he often have a purple sash around his waist to denote that he is a bishop. At formal functions, he may also wear a purple skull cap called a zuchetto or a square boxy hat called a biretta.

Archbishops, Primates and Patriarchs

The white piece dropped over his shoulder and down the front is the pallium, which marks him out as an archbishop.

As mentioned earlier, archbishops are bishops of larger dioceses called archdioceses. Most archdioceses have smaller dioceses attached to them within what is known as an ecclesiastical province (ecclesiastical is another word for church). The archbishops of such archdicoeses have the rank of a Metropolitan while the bishops in those dioceses are his suffragan bishops. Other than the honorary role of precedence during processions and presiding over meetings of bishops, he may be required to supervise the faith in the suffragan dioceses or to step in if any of them falls vacant. Archdioceses without suffragans are known as indepedent archdioceses and are normally in smaller countries such as the Archidocese of Singapore and the Archiocese of Luxembourg.

Primates are archbishops of the oldest diocese in some of the older European countries, normally the first diocese to be set up in that country. For instance: Lyons (France), Salzburg (Austria), Armagh (Ireland). The title is now purely honorary.

Patriarchs of the Eastern Catholic Churches

Patriarchs used to hold important positions in the Church, there being five ancient patriachates: Rome, Constantinopole (modern day Instabul in Turkey), Alexandria (in Egypt), Antioch (in Syria) and Jerusalem. They have jurisdiction over all bishops in their respective territory. In the modern Catholic Church, only the six Eastern Catholic patriarchs retain such authority. The Pope is the Patriarch of the the West, although he doesn't officially use the title anymore. There are other patriarchs in the Western Church (eg., Venice, Lisbon, Goa) but they are purely honorary and are really archbishops.

There were to proceed in a strict order of precedence

When many bishops gather together for a mass, the order that they enter the church is strictly set out. Cardinals take first precedence (more about them in another post), then patriachs, archbishops and bishops. Within each, there may be sub-ranks, and within those sub-ranks, bishops are ranked by the order when they were consecrated.

Auxiliary, Coadjutors and Bishops Emeritus

The Archbishop of LA is assisted by six auxiliary bishops plus a few retired ones who can still help out

Bishops may sometimes have assistant bishops to help him, particularly if the diocese is big or he is not fully fit or healthy. Such bishops are called auxiliary bishops and some of them eventually gets transferred to head a diocese of their own. A coadjutor is an auxiliary with the right to succeed to head the diocese if the bishop retires or dies.

After retirement, bishops are known as bishops/archbishops/patriachs (and now Pope) emeritus. While they still have the fullness of sacrament and can ordain priests but only if requested by the incumbent bishop. There can sometimes be more than one bishop emarati in a single diocese - I believe the Archdiocese of Taipei holds the record with four archbishop emarati at one time.

Titular bishops A titular bishop is an interesting position. They are bishops who do not have the responsibility of a diocese. Many of them are auxiliary bishops (the responsibility belongs to their boss) but there are also bishops who work in the central Church offices in Rome called the Curia. The more important Curial departments are headed by titular archbishops. All Vatican ambassadors, for instance, have the rank of archbishops.

His job is in Atlanta but his title is now a lost city in present day Algeria.

As all bishops must have a diocese, these bishops take the title of an extinct diocese. These are dioceses that existed at one time but are now suppressed (a technical term for no longer functional). This could be because the city was destroyed (eg., Carthage, the capital of the Roman Empire in North Africa), or has fallen to non-Christians (eg, the diocese of Bethlehem). There are 2,000 such dioceses in the Catholic Church today, of which a few hundred have titular bishops. Many of them are in Turkey and North Africa. If your diocese has an auxiliary bishop, ask him for the name of his titular diocese.



With this, I hope that you have an appreciation about what who a Catholic bishop is. If you have any queries, or would like to suggest topics you think I should touch on, please do not hesitate to drop me a line.



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