We revere Jesus Christ as our Lord and Redeemer, Son of Mary and Son of God. He founded the Church to continue His mission of salvation on through the centuries.In founding His Church it is easy to for us to be forgetful of His respect for human free will. Jesus gave very little detailed shape to the organisation of His Church precisely because He treasures the gift of human free will.
This gift has to be employed by each human being in deciding whether or not to respond to the salvation offered by the God of all mercies through Jesus Christ. The gift of free will has to be exercised by Christ’s Church to meet the challenge presented by the development of the human race through the ages.
To do this Jesus has given to the Church a basic social structure in the college of the bishops, successors to the Apostles together with the channels of grace we identify in the seven sacraments.
But apart from these solid foundations He has left the manner of how to present and follow His message to us to choose.
The Lord Jesus chose from among His followers 12 men who He called Apostles, one of whom, Peter, He appointed as leader. They were charged by Jesus, and later confirmed by the coming of the Holy Spirit, to be witnesses to Jesus even to the ends of the earth.
This duty is to be continued to the end of human race in this existence. Jesus left no other dispositions as to the manner in which the Apostles or any others would be required to organise themselves in carrying out His purpose to bring salvation to the human race.
So it is the College of Bishops, with its necessary head, the successor of St Peter, the Pope, that lies at the heart of the social organisation of the Catholic Church in all times and places. This does not exclude the right and duty of all the members of the faithful “to strive so that the divine message of salvation may more and more reach all people of all times and all places”.
Yet the bishops are an irreplaceable element in the execution of the saving will of Christ. Their principal collaborators in this mission are the priests with whom the bishops share a participation in the sacrament of Holy Orders.
The Church has long meditated on the office of Pope. The basis of that meditation is the specific charge laid on St Peter by Jesus to be the Rock on which Jesus made His Church secure (Mt 16:18-20) and the commission to Peter to feed Jesus’s lambs and sheep (Jn 21:15-17).
The papal office went through many sad experiences in the Middle Ages and it was not until the first Vatican Council in 1870 that more precise formulations set out the details of that essential office in the life of the Church.
That teaching was confirmed and amplified in the Second Vatican Council 1962-65, while the Council also explored and taught the significance of the College of Bishops in the life of the Church.
The Church’s ultimate purpose for her existence and activity is holiness. This means to live and act in conformity with God’s loving will for each and all members of the human race.
The Second Vatican Council in its teaching on the Church starts with the insight that she is to be seen as a mystery: both in her Founder Jesus Christ, Son of God and in the achieving of the purpose given her by the Lord. By “mystery” we mean the contemplation of a truth from God that is at first mainly hidden but by God’s loving will is unfolded to our understanding.
The holy Scriptures and the traditions of the Church use a number of images that illustrate our penetration of the mystery of the Church. Some of these are well set out in the Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraphs 751-757.
The Church which is a mystery exists and operates in this material world. So there is need for an organised and evident presence in this creation.
The central element of organisation in the Catholic Church is the diocese. A diocese is described in the Code of Canon Law drawing on the insights of Vatican II as “a portion of the People of God which is entrusted to a bishop to be nurtured by him, with the cooperation of the presbyterium [ie the body of priests working in the diocese]...”
The description continues expanding what is understood to be the bishop’s entrusting function so that “remaining close to its pastor and gathered by him through the Gospel and the Eucharist in the Holy Spirit it constitutes a particular Church. In this Church, the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church of Christ truly exists and functions.”
The bishop charged with the care of a diocese is known as a diocesan bishop while other bishops are called titular bishops. All bishops are successors to the Apostles and are pastors in the Church to be teachers of doctrine, priests of sacred worship and the ministers of governance.
The diocesan bishop in his own diocese has the authority and duty to promote sound teaching, enact laws as necessary for the good of the people of his diocese and lead the people in prayer and the celebration of the sacred liturgy.
The diocesan bishop exercises these functions in accordance with the general law of the Church, without any obligation to turn to other bishops or authorities for approval of his actions. He will usually be a member of a local Conference of Bishops from whom he enjoys support and fraternal advice should he request it.
The conference usually elects its president for a limited term. It is inaccurate to describe him as the head of the Church in that area. Each diocesan bishop is sovereign in his own diocese. He will have special concern for the priests in his diocese. He will listen to them as his helpers and counsellors. He will defend their rights and ensure that they fulfil the obligations proper to their state.
The significance of the Roman Pontiff for the life of the Church needs to be clearly understood to get the full picture of how the Catholic Church operates.
The Pope is the successor of St Peter, head of the College of Bishops, the Vicar of Christ and Pastor of the universal Church of Christ here on earth. He has supreme and universal power over the whole Church according the design of Jesus Christ.
The Pope has this supreme power in order to safeguard the faith and unity of the Church. He does not replace the duty of the College of Bishops or individual bishops but strengthens and sustains them.
The authority of the Pope and the bishops is one of service and not of personal domination. They must follow the example of Jesus “who came not to be served but to serve”.
The Pope must seek to strengthen his brother bishops in their duty of preaching the Gospel and helping the people of God on their path to holiness.
A good example of the supportive role taken by a Pope is the very current matter of the action taken by the Holy See over cases of priests accused of offences, often of a sexual nature, against children. The law of the Church insists that no one is to be presumed guilty of an offence. His guilt must be proved by admission on his part or by secure evidence.
The Church has always regarded offences against children as deeply wrong. Thus in the general law of the Church any cleric who has offended in this regard must be punished, including dismissal from the clerical state if the case so warrants.
However, in 2001 Pope John Paul II, having become aware of the harm done to the Church’s mission of promoting holiness by these disgraceful actions by some of the ordained ministers, and since this was a matter that transcended local boundaries, intervened. He required that any non-frivolous accusation had to be referred to Rome, to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
The Congregation would then either deal with the accused direct or issue directives to the superior of the accused, diocesan bishop or religious superior, as to how to proceed. The Congregation was given the faculty to remove any guilty clerics from the clerical state.
This sad episode in the life of the Catholic Church serves to illustrate the balance that is maintained between the local or particular Church, namely the diocese, and the gift of Christ which is the Petrine office to serve the universal mission of His Catholic Church.
The Pope should not be regarded as the chairman of a worldwide company in which the dioceses are local branches to which he issues orders. The Church is best understood as a gift of God for the whole human race.
In her material organisation she, while remaining faithful to what Her Founder Jesus Christ has established , has been given the power under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to adjust the merely material elements of her organisation to more effectively serve the human race in all its complexity, on its pilgrimage to God.
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