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The Office of Bishop

As my good bishop packs his bags for his new archepiscopal see 250 miles to the south and east, I’m thinking much on his office, which is the office of an apostle.

I’ve been blessed with good bishops all my life. But, as I bounce through the blogosphere, I see that some other folks have had their patience tried by their bishops — and sometimes their patience has been found wanting. Still, it’s a Catholic thing, a sacramental thing, to put faith in the apostolic reality, even when we don’t care much for the bishop’s decisions. It’s likely that Peter would have rubbed many of us the wrong way. He had his idiosyncracies; and, from the gospels to the apocrypha, the ancients testify that he spent a lifetime trying to overcome them. No doubt, he was borne up by the prayers of his flock. In my family we pray for the bishop with every Rosary: “For the bishop of this diocese, Donald, and his intentions.” Once, my angelic daughter Gracie providentially mispronounced the line: “For the bishop of this diocese, Donald, and his tensions!” Since I knew a little bit about the difficulties of the episcopal state, I didn’t correct her. We just kept praying.

Love for the bishop. Respect for the bishop. Reverence for the bishop. These are commonplaces of the patristic era, a time when there was no shortage of bad episcopal example. Some historians believe that a majority of the world’s prelates at the time of Nicea were Arian. Our ancient chroniclers keep an infamous and long roster of bishop-heresiarchs, bishop-schismatics, and bishops involved in sexual and financial misdeeds. God only knows how many were merely inept, insensitive, dimwitted, lazy, or obnoxious.

Yet the refrain of the Fathers is constant. Ignatius said: “Let a man respect the bishop … For, whoever is sent by the Master to run His house, we ought to receive him as we would receive the Master Himself. It is obvious, therefore, that we ought to regard the bishop as we would the Lord Himself.” And again: “Be obedient to your bishop … as Jesus Christ in His human nature was subject to the Father.” And still more Ignatius: “Whatever has [the bishop’s] approval is pleasing to God.” He wrote those words around 107 A.D. Some centuries later, Jerome offered the same advice: “Be obedient to your bishop and welcome him as the father of your soul.”

I’ve known only upright bishops, but the Fathers made no qualifications. Neither do their faithful children. I found a lovely echo of this patristic teaching in the blog of Father John T. Zuhlsdorf, a priest in Rome. Father Zuhlsdorf is a patristic scholar with a license from the Augustinianum …

…the differences I might have with [a certain bishop’s] positions do not permit me to offer him public disrespect. His offices and state of life as a successor of the Apostles merit courtesy. We accomplish nothing by harsh words or lack of decorum in public discourse. This has been a fault of both traditionalists and progressivists alike.

In these columns from time to time I indulge in some gentle ribbing of those with whom I disagree, but I am dedicated to maintaining overall a tone of respect in these columns as befits a Catholic gentleman. You will never change the mind of an opponent holding lofty position by showing him impertinence. Gentlemen ought to be able to disagree without allowing rancor to distract from pursuit of the truth. If His Excellency should ever choose to respond in any way, his contribution would be treated fairly and civilly.