Daily Duties Of A Bishop

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Stephen_Parry

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Hi there

Since late 2009, I’ve been reading the Bible daily and getting closer to God (I am in my thirties). I want to develop a relationship with Him.

I also plan to attend a Catholic service soon and have been reading some books on Catholicism.

Anyway, just out of interest, I am wondering about bishops. What would their daily duties entail? Do they ever perform services or give sermons like priests? If there is anything you think would be of interest, please post. I am just curious about the role of bishops in the Catholic Church.

Thank you.
 
It probably depends upon the bishop and the needs of his diocese.

Bishops still celebrate Mass and give homilies. Their responsibilities require quite a bit of travel, so you ordinarily won’t find them at the cathedral week after week.

There are meetings. Lots of meetings. 🙂

Just take a look in the Code of Canon Law sometime. They have a lot of responsibilities. They are responsible for the pastoral care of all the priests and laity in the diocese. Lots of people are vying for their attention. There are diocesan commissions, committees, organizations, deaneries, parishes, schools, lay apostolates, Catholic universities, national bishops’ meetings, etc.
 
Stephen_Parry said:
Hi there

Since late 2009, I’ve been reading the Bible daily and getting closer to God (I am in my thirties). I want to develop a relationship with Him.

I also plan to attend a Catholic service soon and have been reading some books on Catholicism.

Anyway, just out of interest, I am wondering about bishops. What would their daily duties entail? Do they ever perform services or give sermons like priests? If there is anything you think would be of interest, please post. I am just curious about the role of bishops in the Catholic Church.

Thank you.
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Please see the following link to our bishops schedule for the last few weeks, he will be at our parish tomorrow celebrating 2 Masses for Confirmation. 👍

diocesepb.org/bishop/Acrobat_files/2011/Public%20Sch%20-%20Sept%2016-Oct%209.11.pdf
 
Bishops do give homilies (what a Protestant would identify as a sermon) as well as preside over the Mass occasionally. I attend Mass at a Cathedral parish, which is the Bishop’s “home” church, otherwise known as his “seat”. My bishop usually presides over the Mass during high holy days. Bishops are also ordained priests, so they can and do administer all the sacraments, although obviously this is not the main focus of their position.

I haven’t really answered your question about everyday activities, because I’m honestly not sure myself. I would assume that the bishop travels quite a bit, visiting the parishes within his diocese since he is the “boss” of all the priests and deacons within the diocese. As such, he also undoubtedly spends time dealing with reports of mistakes or abuses concerning his “employees”, just like any other boss.

I’m sure there are others with more knowledge about what a bishop does day-to-day.
 
As an exercise, look at how many parishes, Catholic schools, priests, religious, etc. are in your diocese. Then think about how long it would take the bishop to spend even a brief amount of time visiting all of them. Even the small dioceses would have the bishop visiting a different parish every single week if he wanted to visit them all in a year.
 
Joe_5859 said:
As an exercise, look at how many parishes, Catholic schools, priests, religious, etc. are in your diocese. Then think about how long it would take the bishop to spend even a brief amount of time visiting all of them. Even the small dioceses would have the bishop visiting a different parish every single week if he wanted to visit them all in a year.
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Yes, that makes sense. Thank you for your comment.
 
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