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T.A.Stobie_SFO
Guest
I am of the personal belief that the church could benefit significant from the use of additional auxiliary bishops. How does everyone else feel?
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Brendan
Guest
I’m not too sure.
Cardinal Ratzinger expressed an opinion that the Church might benefit from a return to the simplier model of 1 Bishop and the priests as delegates.
Even now, the vicariate I live in had our regional auxialliary, Bishop Hurley, assigned as Ordinary to the diocese of Grand Rapids.
We now have a Monsignior as the Episcopal Vicar. Which is fine. There is nothing that Bishop Hurley did as our Episcopal Vicar that Msgr. Zenz cannot.
A Bishop is required to Ordain, but I don’t think most dioceses are having such a glut of vocations that a single Bishop is not enough to the task.
Cardinal Ratzinger expressed an opinion that the Church might benefit from a return to the simplier model of 1 Bishop and the priests as delegates.
Even now, the vicariate I live in had our regional auxialliary, Bishop Hurley, assigned as Ordinary to the diocese of Grand Rapids.
We now have a Monsignior as the Episcopal Vicar. Which is fine. There is nothing that Bishop Hurley did as our Episcopal Vicar that Msgr. Zenz cannot.
A Bishop is required to Ordain, but I don’t think most dioceses are having such a glut of vocations that a single Bishop is not enough to the task.
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msproule
Guest
T.A.Stobie:
As a general rule, I disagree with you.
In the Archdiocese of Detroit there always seems to be an abundance of Auxiliary Bishops. The Archbishop also happens to be a Cardinal so he spends more time away from his territory than most Bishops. This situation might require Auxiliaries to assist in the daily operations but I am not convinced that increasing their number is a good idea.
Interesting topic of discussion!
As a general rule, I disagree with you.
In the Archdiocese of Detroit there always seems to be an abundance of Auxiliary Bishops. The Archbishop also happens to be a Cardinal so he spends more time away from his territory than most Bishops. This situation might require Auxiliaries to assist in the daily operations but I am not convinced that increasing their number is a good idea.
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frommi
Guest
I think its ok to have auxiliaries…but at the same time, I’m a little weary of the way they seem to have become “junior bishops” awaiting transfer to their own see.
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tee_eff_em
Guest
Also …um… “ordinarily”
to Confirm. (Which numbers, I suspect, more likely determine whether and how many auxilaries are needed)I can’t really answer the poll question – Having lived in only one diocese all my life, I just don’t have an idea of too much/too little.
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Joe_Kelley
Guest
A priest answering a question on EWTN the other day noted that the only place that we don’t have a vocation shortage to the office of Bishop.
Might it be better to split up a large diocese with many auxiliaries into several smaller ones each with its own bishop? That would bring the bishop closer to his people.
Might it be better to split up a large diocese with many auxiliaries into several smaller ones each with its own bishop? That would bring the bishop closer to his people.
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Detroit_Sue
Guest
Actually Michael, we only have 3 active auxiliary bishops right now: Bp. Boyea, Bp. Quinn & Bp. Reiss. Gumbleton’s resignation has been accepted, Bp. Moses Anderson is retired. Bp. Reiss bought his car the same time as us (Feb 05) & he has over 30,000 miles already. That’s a lot of area that he covers. Bp. Quinn covers all of Detroit, and Bp. Boyea gets Oakland/Macomb county. I think we could use more, too.
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msproule
Guest
Detroit Sue:
On a side note, why is it that half of us posting here are from Detroit? (frommi, I am including you as 1/2 since you may or may not have been in Detroit when you lived in MI ).
Thanks for bringing this up, Sue. Am I mistaken or are we “down a couple” since the recent appointments of former Auxiliaries to Grand Rapids, Oakland, and Toledo? As frommi pointed out, sometimes the Auxiliary Bishop’s function is used for training purposes and with Detroit that certainly seems to be the case. What is the “steady state” number of Bishops that Detroit usually maintains?
On a side note, why is it that half of us posting here are from Detroit? (frommi, I am including you as 1/2 since you may or may not have been in Detroit when you lived in MI
).
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T.A.Stobie_SFO
Guest
One indicator I look at is my archbishop’s schedule published in the diocesian newspaper. It is much more sane after our archbishop emeritus got an adjuctor bishop who succeeded him a year later with the emeritus functioning as an auxiliary.
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Hegesippus
Guest
May I ask what as an auxilliary bishop and what is the difference between them and ordinary bishops.
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Andreas_Hofer
Guest
I don’t know enough about the duties being performed by our (the U.S.'s) auxiliary bishops to know whether we have the right amount. My main thought, though, is that whether or not we have the right number of total bishops, I think I would also rather see 1 bishop to 1 diocese (meaning smaller dioceses) than the very populous dioceses with lots of auxiliaries (Boston, Chicago, and New York all have five, L.A. has six).
I also would probably prefer that bishops receive a “training” assignment as a coadjutor than as an auxiliary who will later take on a see somewhere else. I’m not entirely sure about that, though, because as long as episcopal appointments remain as fluid as they are now I’d probably prefer that new bishops learn under the “best” than start out under some of the “worst” just because they’ll be replacing them in a few years.
I also would probably prefer that bishops receive a “training” assignment as a coadjutor than as an auxiliary who will later take on a see somewhere else. I’m not entirely sure about that, though, because as long as episcopal appointments remain as fluid as they are now I’d probably prefer that new bishops learn under the “best” than start out under some of the “worst” just because they’ll be replacing them in a few years.
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Brendan
Guest
Yes, Having Cardinal Szoka (formerly of Detroit) as effectively the COO of the Vatican State means that he is a ‘go to’ man for (name removed by moderator)ut on bishops for the US.
So he has had a great hand in the appointment of bishops for the US.
So we do get a lot of auxilliaries appointed to other diocese.
For our vicariate, we’ve are almost in a ‘revolving door’. First we get Bishop Vigneron, then he gets appointed to Oakland, CA. So then we get Bishop Hurley, and he gets appointed to Grand Rapids.
Now we have Msgr. Zenz as our Episcopal Vicar
We keep a close eye on our Aux. Bishops??On a side note, why is it that half of us posting here are from Detroit? (frommi, I am including you as 1/2 since you may or may not have been in Detroit when you lived in MI
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Brendan
Guest
Andreas Hofer:
It would not cover circumstances such as the unexpected death of a bishop, but would otherwise provide more ‘on the job’ training for a bishop and allow an easier transition in the case of retirement.
I agree, the coadjutor role is probably a better training oppurtunity than an auxilliary role.
It would not cover circumstances such as the unexpected death of a bishop, but would otherwise provide more ‘on the job’ training for a bishop and allow an easier transition in the case of retirement.
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Timidity
Guest
I’m of the personal opinion that such things shouldn’t exist except in extreme situations. However, I learned a while ago that whenever my opinion disagrees with that of The Church, it’s a sure bet that mine is the wrong one!
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Joe_Kelley
Guest
When we received our first Auxilliary bishop or Ordinary explained:
He is a bishop; I am the Bishop.
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T.A.Stobie_SFO
Guest
I believe that each bishop should have some time each month for personal spiritual growth; sometimes their schedules make it very difficult to devote any significant time to their own spirituality.
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MrS
Guest
Joe Kelley:
We also have a hugh number of the laity who want to be pope.A priest answering a question on EWTN the other day noted that the only place that we don’t have a vocation shortage to the office of Bishop.
Might it be better to split up a large diocese with many auxiliaries into several smaller ones each with its own bishop? That would bring the bishop closer to his people.
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Andreas_Hofer
Guest
And a noticeable amount of laity who think they actually are pope!We also have a hugh number of the laity who want to be pope.
(How many Piuses XIII do we have? Or is it pope Michael?..)
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Brain
Guest
Seattle has 2 and it helps (and it was kinda lucky how we got the auxilliaries like a few months before the archbishop was told he needed a total knee replacement)
Anyway 1 (Bsp Elizando MSpS) was selected to minister specifically to the hispanic communities in the diocese, and the other (Bsp Tyson) seems to have been selected to be kinda a “junior bishop” as he is the personal representative of the Archbishop to various functions, and is his personal assistant otherwise. (we asked him exactly what he did, but he said aside from going to events that require a bishop, he cant tell us cuz its the ArchBsp’s personal affairs). I like Bishop Tyson a lot, im just a little confused as to why his office is nessessary (but i probably dont understand all he does).
Anyway 1 (Bsp Elizando MSpS) was selected to minister specifically to the hispanic communities in the diocese, and the other (Bsp Tyson) seems to have been selected to be kinda a “junior bishop” as he is the personal representative of the Archbishop to various functions, and is his personal assistant otherwise. (we asked him exactly what he did, but he said aside from going to events that require a bishop, he cant tell us cuz its the ArchBsp’s personal affairs). I like Bishop Tyson a lot, im just a little confused as to why his office is nessessary (but i probably dont understand all he does).
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