10/27/02

The bishop in the life of the Church

This issue of The Catholic New World is dedicated to jubilarians and vocations to ordained ministry and consecrated life in the Church. The vocation of bishop is one I can speak to from personal experience. It’s a calling that has been subjected to some criticism lately because of the way bishops, in recent years, have not always adequately protected children in the Church and the Church herself. In considering a vocation, it’s good to reach behind experience and ask first, in the light of our faith, what a bishop is.

A bishop is a man ordained by Jesus Christ, the invisible Head of the Church, in order to represent Christ visibly to the particular Church given to the bishop’s pastoral care. A bishop is not a delegate of the community; his authority comes from Christ by reason of his ordination. But the bishop is ordained for the service of the community, in order to keep the baptized visibly united to Christ and in Him. In short, one cannot understand in the light of faith the office of bishop without understanding Christ’s relationship to his Church. One cannot speak about a bishop without speaking of the Church. Without the Church, there would be no bishops. Of course, without the Church, there would be no Christians.

So what can we say about the Church to help us understand what a bishop is? The Church is not a country, a corporation, a club or any other familiar form of social organization. In the creed, we say that the Church is one, holy, catholic and apostolic. The Church has these qualities because of the ministry of bishops.

How do Catholics in Bombay know that they are one with Catholics in Chicago? Because the Archbishop of Bombay and the Archbishop of Chicago are in communion with one another, in a relationship of shared faith. What one teaches as the apostolic faith, so does the other. The sacraments celebrated by one are celebrated by the other. Those taught in Bombay and those taught in Chicago are therefore secure in their unity in faith; those going to Mass in Bombay know that their bishop can concelebrate with those going to Mass in Chicago. Bishops are the visible sign of Catholic communion, of Catholic unity. In each diocese, the bishop is the guarantor that the faithful of the diocese are united in the one apostolic faith, in the one sacramental life and in the one teaching authority and pastoral governance. It is not possible to be in communion with the Catholic Church if one has broken communion with the bishop of the diocese. St. Ignatius of Antioch, at the end of the first Christian century, wrote to the Church of Tralles in Asia, “... one thing is necessary, and you already observe it, that you do nothing without your bishop.”

Because bishops are to be visible centers of unity in Christ, they have to do all they can to love their people as Christ loves them. In a conflict, the bishop almost instinctively tries to keep people together and not take sides, unless it is a question of heresy or immorality. There is a tension built into a bishop’s job in a conflictual society such as ours. When there is a controversy, the media and many others want to show which side the bishop is on, while he is trying to support both sides together. In the current sex abuse scandal, for example, many voices insist that you must choose between victims and priests; but the bishop has to work to keep everyone together in Christ, not only in his local Church but also in that Church’s relation to the Holy See and all the local Churches in Catholic communion. There are, it seems to me in the current controversies, some who would like to weaken the bond of union with the Holy See and transform Catholicism in the United States into a separate American denomination. In the controversy within the Southside Athletic Conference a year ago, the media made themselves the allies of those working against racial reconciliation because they had to keep people at odds with one another for the sake of a story; my role was, and is, to keep people together. Unless, of course, they no longer want to be Catholic.

To be a member of the Catholic Church, one must be baptized and must hold integrally the Catholic faith that comes to us from the apostles. The episcopal office is apostolic. First, there was the little group of the Twelve, the foundation upon which Jesus built his Church. It was succeeded by the college of bishops, who carry on the apostles’ role and ministry in the Church. As a member of the apostolic college, a bishop is given the care of the whole Church, with and under the successor of St. Peter, the Bishop of Rome, even as he shepherds directly the local Church to which he has been sent. Because the bishops collectively are responsible for the whole Church, each bishop has obligations which occasionally take him out of the diocese he serves. Many of these national and international meetings are occasions when bishops check each other’s actions and teachings with one another and with apostolic tradition. To teach, to rule, to sanctify-these these are services that the shepherds of the Church have offered since apostolic times.

The bishop’s ministry in sanctifying makes the Church holy. Through the gift given him in the sacrament of Holy Orders, his is the responsibility to make the gifts of Christ available to all the faithful in his charge. He ordains others as his helpers in this charge and commissions some of the baptized to serve in particular responsibilities. With authority from Christ, he oversees the worship of the Church and teaches the revealed truth entrusted to the apostles. He looks to the good order of the Christian community. He does not represent himself or proclaim his own ideas; he is to represent Christ and speak with his voice. He is the servant of the mission Christ gave the apostles. Through the lay faithful, he is to see that the Gospel is a leaven that transforms society and shapes culture. The faith touches all of human life, because the salvation won for us by Jesus Christ affects individuals and society as a whole. To foster social transformation is part of the bishop’s ministry because it is part of the mission of the Church. There is a societal, even a political in the broad sense of the term, dimension of episcopal ministry.

One, holy, catholic and apostolic Church forms under the oversight of bishops ordained to be centers of unity, ministers of the holy mysteries of faith, signs of catholic communion in visible historical continuity with the apostles. Despite the difficulties such an office always brings to its holder and despite the sins and inadequacies of those who are bishops, the office and its ministry are a source of great joy to every bishop. At the annual Tolton Banquet some weeks ago, when the Archdiocese honors those who have contributed in a special way to ministry among African American Catholics, I mentioned the joy we all have in being one in Christ. I then said that my joy was greater than anyone else’s at the banquet, because I was their bishop and they were the source of my joy. I said then what I feel each day. You are always in my prayers; please keep me in yours.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Francis Cardinal George, OMI
Archbishop of Chicago

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