Archbishop's web site Denver Catholic Register Parishes Catholic Pastoral Center
March 14, 2001
Bishops: Servants of the Gospel
Church includes nearly 4,500 bishops, over half shepherd dioceses
By Russell Shaw
When more than 200 selected bishops gather at the Vatican in October, they will have come to discuss a subject on which all of them are experts: what bishops are and what they do.
It won't be an exercise in episcopal narcissism, though. For, as a discussion document prepared by the Vatican for this coming world Synod of Bishops says, there is an "urgent need to appreciate the figure of bishops."
In today's secularized world it is easy to think of a bishop simply as the religious equivalent of a Fortune 500 CEO. Bishops do have administrative responsibilities, but there is far more to the job than that.
Currently there are about 4,500 members of the Catholic episcopate. They include cardinals, patriarchs, archbishops, and coadjutor and auxiliary bishops, as well as those called simply "bishop." A little under 1,000 of them are retired. While the rest hold a surprisingly wide variety of positions, most — about 2,600 — are "ordinaries," that is, bishops in charge of dioceses.
History and faith together help to explain a lot about the role of bishops.
The office itself goes back to the Apostles. The meaning of words used in the New Testament for various offices and office-holders in the early Church — "episkopos," "presbyter," "deacon" — is by no means clear, but it is certain that the Apostles chose successors to shepherd the Christian communities they founded, and the successors had successors, and so on down to the present day. These are the bishops.
The Second Vatican Council (1962-65) says of them: "Through their appointment to the dignity and responsibility of bishop, and in virtue consequently of the unbroken succession going back to the beginning, [they] are regarded as transmitters of the apostolic line. ... The bishops have by divine institution taken the place of the Apostles as pastors of the Church."
There is much testimony to their presence and activity in early times. Around the year 95 A.D., St. Clement, St. Peter's third successor as Bishop of Rome, wrote an epistle saying among other things that the Apostles "laid down a rule once for all to this effect: When these men die, other approved men shall succeed to their sacred ministry."
About a decade later, St. Ignatius of Antioch said it is "a source of everlasting joy" when members of a local church are "at one with the bishop and his assistants, the presbyters and deacons, that have been appointed in accordance with the wish of Jesus Christ."
Bishops were at the center of the religious life of the Christian communities of the early centuries in a very direct, hands-on way. Gradually, as the local churches grew and became more complex, priests and deacons took on increased duties. But even then the bishop remained the central figure and principal authority in diocesan life.
From the fourth century on, bishops had much influence with the Christian emperors and other civil authorities of the Roman Empire. When barbarians overran the empire and converted to Christianity, this influence only increased. A modern historian writes:
"The authority of the bishop was even greater after the barbarian invasions; among the Germanic peoples he soon became an influential and powerful personage.
"He inspired confidence and commanded respect. He was beloved for he protected the young and the weak, he was the friend of the poor, was accustomed to intercede on behalf of the victims of injustice, and especially on behalf of orphans and women."
But, the same writer adds, "such an exalted position was not without its difficulties."
One of the gravest difficulties was interference by secular rulers in the choosing of bishops. In one way or another, this issue remained a bone of contention between Church and state until modern times. In fact, even today the appointment of bishops is a friction point between the Vatican and the governments in countries like China and Vietnam.
The history of the episcopate, with all its highs and lows, is much too complicated to summarize here. But several things do stand out. One is the special relationship of local bishops to the Bishop of Rome, the pope. Communion with Rome has always been understood to be essential to the exercise of the episcopal office. Like his predecessors, Pope John Paul II has often made this point. Speaking to the U.S. bishops in Los Angeles on Sept. 16, 1987, during his second pastoral visit to the United States, he said: "It is precisely because you are pastors of particular churches in which there subsists the fullness of the universal Church, that you are, and must always be, in full communion with the Successor of Peter." Also of great importance is the collegiality of bishops. The idea is that all the bishops together, under the leadership of the pope, make up a united body or "college" with responsibility for the universal Church. It has always been obvious that local bishops are pastors of their local churches; but collegiality calls attention to the body of bishops in union with the Bishop of Rome as an agent in guiding the Church as a whole, without prejudice to the supreme authority of the pope. As Vatican Council II teaches, "the order of bishops is the successor to the college of the Apostles in their role as teachers and pastors. ... Together with their head, the Supreme Pontiff, and never apart from him, they have supreme and full authority over the universal Church." Collegiality is expressed most strikingly in an ecumenical council, where all, or virtually all, of the world's bishops participate under papal leadership. There have been 21 ecumenical councils in the history of the Church up to now. Since Vatican Council II, another important expression of the collegial spirit has been the Synod of Bishops. These gatherings of selected bishops from around the world are held periodically in Rome to discuss topics designated by the pope and offer him advice. October's synod will be the last in a series focused on various groups and states of life in the Church — priests, persons in consecrated life, lay people. The topic of the Synod of 2001 is "The Bishop: Servant of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the Hope of the World." Not only will it be a chance for the participating bishops to reflect on their role — it will also be an invitation to the rest of the Church to grow in understanding of this unique, and uniquely important, office.
