catholic 101- the bishop. Who's that guy?

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Today I want to tell you about bishops.
In the catholic church hierarchy is very important. It is also a HUGE turn off for most of our protestant brothers. One day I'll do a 101 about the hierarchy and why IMO it makes sense. But for today let's start with just the bishop, his role, his meaning..

The word used in the gospel is episkopos, epi means above, over and skop is the root for watching, looking.. So the bishop is originally the one who watches over.
Just like Jesus asked Peter to watch over his sheeps, the bishop is the one who watches over a group of Christians.
He is in charge of the spiritual life in the diocese, and also the material management.
He is the one dealing with all real estate of the area (=churches, rooms, monasteries?).
He makes sure the tradition of the church is taught and respected within the diocese, this is important so there is some consistency throughout the world or so.. There is one creed, one catechism, and not one per city/country etc.

Now I choose this topic because I particularly LOVE my bishop here in Evry.

-I had the chance to hear him several times and he is a good preacher, the kind of person who makes you want to learn more, pray more, love more etc. :) In the early church only the bishop was preaching, because they were the guardians of the faith. But that was in the earliest centuries of the church..

-He deals with finances. And that's quite a burden during such a crisis, both of the faithful and for the economy..

-He is in charge of the repartition of the priests. Real tough when they are all getting old... He is also organizing synodes, teachings, programs...

-He delivers sacraments. Only bishops can do the ordination of priests and the confirmations (except on Easter when priests can do it too).

-The bishop also gives a special direction to his diocese. Some are more old fashion, some are more oriented towards social justice or evangelism..


Our bishop here has some clear priorities:
social justice :he always spend one celebration of Christmas or Easter in jail, he set up a specific emergency help for undocumented people
divorced catholics: there is a group working on a status for divorced catholic, to get some kind of blessing for remarriage. This is a hot topic in the catholic church. The bishop is NOT going against the tradition/teachings, or the Pope, but working on going forward from what the gospel teaches, offering propositions on how to better integrate people who could feel rejected. There are several groups of divorced catholic around the diocese. I hope to talk more on this an other day...
vocations/youth: our diocese is one of the rare to still have priest being ordained every year or other year..
dialogue with other religions: lots of work done here with local synagogues and mosks.

That special touch is precious I think, it's the wealth of the church to have diversity AND unity.

What I do for my bishop (and you can do too!):

-pray! :) When I was biking a lot I would offer up the long way up the hill. SO hard! But I would offer it up for him because it was nearby the cathedral..

-go to church, we all pray for him at every single mass (eucharistic prayers mentions both him and the pope... along with all priests)

-donate/tithe

-write him a Christmas card. Or Easter. :)

-send suggestions/comments if you have some. Positive comments and constructive suggestions. You may be surprised by how much you can change just by doing this..