Contemporary Challenges to Episcopal Governance: Reflections on the 2004 Directory on the Ministry of Bishops and Other Pertinent Texts

1 This article was initially a presentation at the Canadian Canon Law Society convention in Montreal on October 5, 2006. It was later submitted in a slightly modified form as part of a festschrift in honor of Msgr. Roch Pagé, a long-time friend and colleague, who invited the author to make such a presentation. It is presented here in a further modified fashion with the permission of Dr. John M. Huels, OSM, editor of the festschrift. See Thomas Green, “The 2004 Directory on the Ministry of Bishops: Reflections on Episcopal Governance in a Time of Crisis,” Studia Canonica 41 (2007) 117–152. 2 For example, given its special ecumenical relevance, the theme of the bishop and the local church was the main focus of a December 2005 symposium in Rome sponsored by the Centro pro Unione and the Ecumenical Institute of Venice. The papers from that symposium were published in The Jurist 66 (2006) 1–338; and some of them will be cited in this article. Furthermore, the so-called Peter Paul Seminar III has continued its theological-canonical research on collegiality by exploring the theme of the bishop in the local church. An initial meeting to discuss the seminar papers on that theme took place at the June 2006 convention of the Catholic Theological Society of America (CTSA) in San Antonio, Texas. They were subsequently discussed in Ottawa at St. Paul’s University on March 15–17, 2007 as part of a special Seminar program entitled “The Local Church and its Bishop: Receiving the Vision of Vatican II..” Roughly half of the seminar papers are published in this issue of The Jurist, and the other half will be published in the next issue. For some insightful comments on the Seminar’s origins, methodology, and emphases, see Myriam Wijlens,” ‘Peter and Paul Seminar’: a Follow-up by Theologians and Canon Lawyers to the Groupe des Dombes’ Publication For the Conversion of the Churches,” The Jurist 64 (2004) 6–20. For various Peter Paul Seminar II studies on collegiality at the universal and regional levels, see The Jurist 64 (2004) 1–360. The theme of bishops in the Church was also the principal subject of the June 2007 CTSA convention in Los Angeles. See CTSA Proceedings (2007) 1–228. We will refer to a few particularly pertinent texts during the following reflections. 418 The Jurist 68 (2008) 418–459 CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES TO EPISCOPAL GOVERNANCE: REFLECTIONS ON THE 2004 DIRECTORY ON THE MINISTRY OF BISHOPS AND OTHER PERTINENT TEXTS1 Thomas J. Green General Introduction This article raises some theological-canonical questions about episcopal leadership in the local church, a topic of increasing academic and professional interest.2 In the United States the bishops are at the center of a church leadership crisis. Their relationship with the faithful is a continuinglegal -pastoralconcern,especiallyduetotheclericalsexualabusescandal .The author will consider selected aspects of their ministry as the principal leaders of dioceses viewed as sacramental communities of believers 3 Henceforth the author cites the canons of the 1983 Latin code as c. or cc followed by the canon number(s). He cites the canons of the Eastern code as CCEO, followed by c. or cc. and the pertinent canon number(s).While citing corresponding Eastern code texts for completeness sake, the author considers the Latin code nearly exclusively. When this article uses the term ‘code’ without a qualifier, it refers to the Latin code. 4 It would be highly irresponsible to imply that church leadership problems are solely attributable to the bishops; however, their central ecclesial leadership role notably shapes this analysis. On various aspects of that leadership crisis, see Peter Steinfels, A People Adrift: The Crisis of the Roman Catholic Church in America (NewYork, Simon & Schuster, 2003) 309–312. Among other things he mentions a failure of comprehension and empathy, of decisiveness, of focus, of persistence and follow-through, of openness, and of explanation. Frankly the U.S. bishops have taken some serious steps in recent years to address such failures although much remains to be done. With due regard for legitimate criticisms of the following texts, one might note USCCB, Promise to Protect Pledge to Heal. (Washington, USCCB, 2002). This document contains the Charter...