July 4, 2004

What are ‘the bishops’?

Writing recently on the vocation and duties of bishops, Pope John Paul II said that each bishop is “a living sign of the Lord Jesus … a living continuation of the mystery of Christ for the Church.” The Pope’s words remind his brother bishops and, by extension, ordained priests, that their life and mission in the Church is determined neither by themselves nor by the people they serve but by Christ himself.

Many commentaries on “the bishops” ignore this rooting of the bishops’ identity in Christ and his will for his people. The bishops themselves need to be reminded. Two weeks ago in Denver, the U.S. hierarchy came together in retreat to reflect on how they are to bring the presence and ministry of Christ to his people. Christ is for the Church a shepherd, a teacher and a priest. The bishops reflected and prayed on their work as pastors or shepherds, as teachers or prophets, and as priests or life givers. We spent time before the Blessed Sacrament to pray together for our people and, in a particular way, for vocations to the priesthood, and we participated in a penance service (with individual confession of each one’s sins!).

While pastoral challenges change, the basic life of the Church is always in continuity with Christ and his work for his people. The bishop is not to be original; his mission, his ministry, his very existence are entirely derivative. The faith of the Church tells him what is the mind of Christ. The canons and other regulations of the Church tell him what is the will of Christ. All this must be expressed not only in his teaching and governance of others but, first of all, in his own thinking and actions. St. Augustine summed it up in a much-quoted sermon to the people of his diocese some 1,600 years ago: “If I am in fear because I am for you, I am consoled to be with you. Because for you I am a bishop, with you I am a Christian. The first name is one of responsibility, the second one of grace. The former is a name of danger, the latter of salvation.”

During the Denver retreat, the U.S. bishops also conducted some business. A year ago, a group of bishops suggested that an extraordinary situation in the Church demands an extraordinary response. They asked the U.S. Conference of Bishops to consider calling a plenary council to address the demands of the Church’s mission today. That proposal was studied, and the bishops will decide in November whether or not such a gathering would be helpful.

The bishops also voted to continue this year the processes adopted two years ago to monitor dioceses’ compliance with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People in the Church. They decided as well to fund two studies designed to examine the causes of the sexual abuse crisis and make better use of the data already collected to tell us its extent. These steps are in the nature of ongoing business.

A new topic for debate was the much-publicized issue of Catholic politicians and the reception of Holy Communion. A task force of the Conference had been studying the question of Catholics’ participation in political life and issued an interim report. In response, the bishops adopted a short statement pointing out that a consistent voting pattern in support of abortion is a form of participation in the evil of abortion itself. (See Page 5.) This statement obliges the bishops to enter into discussions with Catholics in political life to help them recognize their obligations in conscience. It also leaves the question of reception of Holy Communion to their conscience, unless an individual bishop judges that the danger of public scandal in his diocese demands a different response on his part. Making such prudential decisions is part of the bishop’s responsibility for governing the Church.

Controversies over the Eucharist bring us to the heart of what we are about as believers, as disciples of Jesus Christ in his Body, the Church. The Eucharist is a sign of the unity of the faith and strengthens our personal and collective unity in that faith. It should be used for no other purpose. We must use it at least weekly, as believers have done since apostolic times. No one receives the Eucharist on any other terms except those of Christ himself, just as no one is a Catholic on any other terms but Christ’s.

The Eucharist is truly Christ’s body and blood and, analogously but really, so is the Church. The Church is apostolic because she is governed by bishops, successors of the apostles. Whatever weaknesses an individual bishop might have, however his own life might be marked by sin itself, “the bishops” are the visible sign of the unity of the Church in the apostolic faith and the bishop in each diocese is, therefore, the principal celebrant of the Eucharist. Enemies of the Church and others who want to manipulate her mission have always understood this.

Eucharistic controversies now, like so much else of the Church’s life, are affected by the aftermath of the sexual abuse scandal. That scandal contributes to an erosion of faith and hangs over every discussion, whether in the U.S. Bishops’ Conference or here in the Archdiocese. As the facts of the scandal continue to be clarified and addressed, most of the reports are of terrible offenses against young people that happened 20, 30 and even more years ago. For the victims themselves, of course, the consequences are as real today as they were years ago. But every priest involved in any such sin is outside of public ministry, so far as we now know. No bishop serving the Church in this Archdiocese has transferred a priest known to be an abuser. None of this might radically change the effects of the scandal in the life of the Church, but it’s good to get the basic facts straight.

St. Thomas Aquinas once described the bishops as helmsmen in the storm. The image comes from St. Paul. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul lists among the charisms needed by the Church’s pastors “the helmsman’s art.” In many periods of history, the Church has been in rough waters, as she is today in our country. The response to mistakes in steering a boat is not to cease steering but to steer correctly. God’s help to do this was the object of the bishops’ prayer for themselves in Denver. Just as bishops are to pray daily not only for themselves but for their people, so daily they are encouraged by the prayers offered for them. Prayers for one another keep us together in Christ. God bless you.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Francis Cardinal George, OMI
Archbishop of Chicago