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From the Director of Sacred Music & Liturgy - On the Role of the Bishop
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“See that you all follow the bishop, even as Jesus Christ does the Father…Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.”
- St. Ignatius of Antioch (c. AD 108)
This weekend we have the great privilege of being visited by Bishop Rhoades, who will be celebrating our 9:00 AM Sunday Mass. The presence of our local bishop is a mark of our unity with the whole Catholic Church.
Before the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), bishops were sometimes viewed as mere “branch managers” at the service of the Roman Pontiff. The Council was very clear to state that bishops are not merely the Church’s mid-level management. Instead, by virtue of his episcopal ordination, each bishop is truly the vicar of Christ to his own local church (that is, his diocese), in union with the Pope (the successor of St. Peter) who is the vicar of Christ on earth (see Matthew 16:13-19 and Isaiah 22:20-24).
This hierarchical structure of the Church (bishops, priests, and deacons) is the structure that Jesus Christ established when He founded the one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church nearly two thousand years ago. We should derive great assurance from this fact! Jesus prayed that all Christians would be one, just as He and the Father are one (John 17). Our union with the bishop, and the bishop’s union with the pope, assures us that we are indeed united by “one Lord, one faith, [and] one baptism” (Ephesians 4:5) and that we are indeed branches of “the true vine”
(John 15), our Lord Jesus Christ.
