Catholicism For Dummies. Rev. Kenneth Brighenti
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Education
Causes of the Saints
Clergy
Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments
Evangelization of Peoples
Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life
Oriental Churches
A different cardinal also heads up each of several commissions and councils, as well as three high courts of the Catholic Church: the Apostolic Penitentiary, the Apostolic Signatura, and the Roman Rota, all of which deal with canon law (see Chapter 11) and its application and interpretation.
Cardinals who don’t work in the Curia run an archdiocese, mostly functioning as an archbishop would — ordaining, confirming, and doing the day-to-day business of being chief shepherd of the archdiocese. These cardinals are also often the metropolitans, which means that they supervise the province of two to several dioceses, usually all in the same state or region. (We define archdiocese and diocese in the next section.) A metropolitan doesn’t have immediate authority over neighboring bishops or their dioceses even though they’re within the cardinal archbishop’s province as metropolitan.
A metropolitan does report to Rome, however, if one of the bishops in his province is derelict in his duties, commits scandal or crime, and so on. Often, the apostolic nuncio, the papal ambassador to that country, consults with the cardinal when vacancies appear in his province, as in the case of a bishop dying or retiring. For example, the Cardinal Archbishop of Philadelphia is the Metropolitan for Pennsylvania, which incorporates the eight dioceses of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Erie, Harrisburg, Scranton, Allentown, Greensburg, and Altoona-Johnstown.
The pope personally selects the men who become cardinals. The ceremony where new cardinals are created is called a consistory, and it usually occurs every few years to replace those who have retired (or will soon retire), as well as those who have died since the last consistory. This way, the goal of 120 cardinal electors is more likely achieved should the pope die, in which case a conclave is called to elect a new pope. Since the pontificate of St. John Paul II, a concerted effort has been made to have a diverse spectrum of cardinals from all continents and from both Latin and Eastern Catholic Rites.
Bishops and archbishops
Besides being the head of the Catholic Church, the pope is also the bishop of Rome. The pope isn’t more a bishop than any other bishop, but his authority covers more territory. The pope has supreme, full, immediate, and universal jurisdiction all over the world, whereas a local bishop, who may also be an archbishop or a cardinal, possesses jurisdiction only in his diocese, which is the typical geographical designation in Catholic governance — an administrative territory.
Dioceses and archdioceses: The areas that bishops govern
Each individual bishop retains his own authority, which comes from episcopal ordination and consecration. Episcopal refers to anything that has to do with a bishop or bishops, and episcopal ordination and consecration is the sacrament by which a priest becomes a bishop. It’s the third and fullest level of the Sacrament of Holy Orders. (The first level is the ordination of a deacon, and the second is the ordination of a priest. Deacons, priests, and bishops are all considered clergy.)
The local bishop runs the diocese. He’s not an ambassador of the pope but governs the local diocese as an authentic successor of the apostles, just as the pope governs the universal Church as the successor of St. Peter.
The pope appoints the bishops, and they must make a visit to the Holy Father every five years and give a report on their particular diocese. The rest of the time, the bishop goes around the diocese confirming adults and teenagers, ordaining men to the diaconate (the office of deacon), and ordaining men to the priesthood once a year. Only bishops have the authority to administer the Sacrament of Holy Orders whereby men are ordained deacons, priests, or bishops. Bishops make pastoral visits to the parishes and chair numerous meetings with their staff. (See Chapter 8 for more on the Sacrament of Confirmation, and see Chapter 9 for more on the Sacrament of Holy Orders.) A bishop is like a pastor of an extra-large parish. (See the later section “The parish priest” for details about pastors.)
The local diocese is a collection of local parishes, just like a state is a collection of counties and cities. Many dioceses are comprised of several state counties, and in a few places, the entire state makes up one diocese.
An archbishop runs a really large diocese, known as an archdiocese. For example, an archbishop is given authority in each of the following archdioceses: Newark, San Francisco, Denver, Hartford, Miami, St. Louis, and Omaha. Sometimes, though, the archbishop is also a cardinal, which is often the case in Philadelphia, New York City, Boston, Chicago, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Detroit, and Washington, D.C.
The bishops within an entire country or nation get together at least once a year in a gathering known as an episcopal conference. The American bishops belong to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB); the Canadian Bishops belong to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB); in Australia, it’s the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC); and in Great Britain, it’s the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales (CBCEW).
Cathedrals: The place where bishops hang out
The cathedral is to the local diocese what the Vatican is to the universal Church. The cathedral is the official church of the diocese where the bishop’s chair resides, and his chair (cathedra in Latin) is a symbol of his authority as a successor to the apostles.
Bishops celebrate most Masses at the cathedral church. In addition, it’s often the place where the Chrism Mass (also known as the Mass of the Oils) takes place — unless the bishop decides to have it elsewhere in the diocese. (Curious? See the sidebar “Nope, the Mass of the Oils has nothing to do with your car’s engine” for details about this special Mass.)
Cathedrals also have daily and weekly Mass like other parishes, as well as weddings, funerals, baptisms, and such. But the pride of the cathedral is in the ordinations to the episcopacy, priesthood, or diaconate, as well as the Chrism Mass. (For more on ordination and Holy Orders, see Chapter 9.)
Note: Only the bishop may sit in his cathedra, so any other priest celebrating Mass must use another chair.
NOPE, THE MASS OF THE OILS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOUR CAR’S ENGINE
The Chrism Mass takes place on Holy Thursday or some other day of Holy Week (the week before Easter), and all the priests of the diocese are asked to be present if possible. At this Mass, the bishop formally blesses olive oil in enormous