Does the USCCB Have Authority in the U.S.?

[Matthew_Holford]

Another question for anyone really. Since the USCCB is a legitimate construct for the US, is the group subject to Rome? Or do they make their own rules… I ask this as I see many discrepencies in how various Bishops, Cardinals etc. react to questions such as should pro abort pols receive communion if they haven’t given public repentence, or recently Boston’s caving in to allowing children of gays and lesbians attend Catholic Schools. Mind you I have nothing against the education of children, but am concerned that Boston has once again stepped into quicksand.

All episcopal conferences are subject to the authority of the Holy See. The general rule is this: if they make a unanimous decision it becomes binding throughout the episcopal conference’s territory. If they cannot reach a unanimous decision but they agree by a majority of two-thirds and get the Holy See’s recognitio the decision is binding throughout the episcopal conference’s territory. In some matters they always require the Holy See’s recognitio even if all the members of the episcopal conference vote unanimously. A topical example would be: an episcopal conference always requires the Holy See’s recognitio for a translation into the vernacular of a liturgical book.

I do not understand why you take issue with Catholic schools admitting children whose parents are homosexuals. If Catholic schools refused admission to the children of any sinner they’d be very empty places.

 

[RedSoxWife]

The Bishops conferences cannot, as I understand it, ever overrule an individual bishop in his own diocese. Bishop Vasa has been writing about it recently. Here’s a start on what I’ve found:

"The authority of the Catholic bishop within his own diocese trumps the national bishops’ conference and “no bishop has an obligation” to adopt the conference’s documents, asserted Bishop Robert Vasa of Baker, Oregon in a landmark talk last week.

“Such documents do not become normative for a particular diocese unless the bishop, either explicitly or implicitly, recommends them,” he told the 2010 InsideCatholic Partnership Award Dinner last Thursday.”

from lifesitenews.com

and then it gets more interesting:

Deal Hudson of InsideCatholic said Bishop Vasa is the first U.S. bishop he is aware of to tackle “the prevalent misunderstanding” over the relation between the authority of the individual bishop versus that of the USCCB. Judie Brown, president of American Life League and a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, agreed. “Having been involved in this for over 35 years, I can tell you that this speech is long overdue,” she said.

According to Bishop Vasa, statements from bishops’ conferences necessarily tend to be “flattened” and “vague,” allowing certain teachings to “fall by the wayside through what could be called, charitably, a kind of benign pastoral neglect.”

While some call this compassion, “in truth, it often entails a complicity or a compromise with evil,” he says. “The harder and less popular teachings are left largely unspoken, thereby implicitly giving tacit approval to erroneous or misleading theological opinions.”

“I fear that there has been such a steady diet of such flattened documents that anything issued by individual bishops that contains some element of strength,” he says, “is readily and roundly condemned or simply dismissed as being out of touch with the conference or in conflict with what other bishops might do.”

 

[RedSoxWife]

There was also this from the Pope:

Vatican City, Nov 15, 2010 / 07:18 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A national conference of Catholic bishops exists so that pastors of the Church might “share the fatigue of their labors.” But, according to Pope Benedict XVI, those national conferences can never substitute for an individual bishop’s authority and duty to guide his people.

…

…Since the Second Vatican Council (1963-1965), some critics have argued that bishops’ conferences have assumed too much influence in the lives of local churches and in some cases have diminished the authority of local bishops.

In his address, Pope Benedict reminded the Brazilian Church leaders that “the counselors and structures of the episcopal conference exist to serve the bishops, not to replace them…”

 

[Maui71]

No it does not.

 

[ConstantineTG]

Canon Law and other Church documents are clear when decisions or authority fall on the Bishop alone or to the Episcopal Conference. An example is the GIRM, where certain norms are established by the Episcopal Conference and not by each individual Bishop.

Most of the time the decision is to the local ordinary alone, but done in cooperation with the Episcopal Conference for the sake of uniformity across the territory. This way you don’t get a different practice or rule once you cross the diocese lines.

 

[Matthew_Holford]

The matter is quite straightforward:

1. 
   *]There are some matters that must be handled by the episcopal conference (not by individual diocesan bishops), e.g. translation of liturgical books.
   
   *]There are some matters that fall within the purview of the episcopal conference if that is what the bishops who make up the episcopal conference decide.
   
   *]Finally, there are some matters that rest with the diocesan bishops to individually decide for their own dioceses.
   
   It is important to recognise the difference between an opinion or position statement issued by an episcopal conference and an actual ecclesiastical law promulgated by an episcopal conference.
   
   Sometimes, even when the matter falls within the episcopal conference’s area of authority, its decisions on certain matters may be subject to review by and approval from a dicastery of the Holy See.

 

[etspiri2sanctus]

All episcopal conferences are subject to the authority of the Holy See. The general rule is this: if they make a unanimous decision it becomes binding throughout the episcopal conference’s territory. If they cannot reach a unanimous decision but they agree by a majority of two-thirds and get the Holy See’s recognitio the decision is binding throughout the episcopal conference’s territory. In some matters they always require the Holy See’s recognitio even if all the members of the episcopal conference vote unanimously. A topical example would be: an episcopal conference always requires the Holy See’s recognitio for a translation into the vernacular of a liturgical book.

I do not understand why you take issue with Catholic schools admitting children whose parents are homosexuals. If Catholic schools refused admission to the children of any sinner they’d be very empty places.

I object to the children of homosexuals being allowed to attend Catholic schools because of the further political disruption that will occur. I can just see a gay or lesbian couple using the ACLU to accuse the school of discrimination, when the child comes home after being taught that only a man and woman can have a legitimate marriage. Just thinking ahead. I think these folks always have an agenda.

 

[PbloPicasso]

I object to the children of homosexuals being allowed to attend Catholic schools because of the further political disruption that will occur. I can just see a gay or lesbian couple using the ACLU to accuse the school of discrimination, when the child comes home after being taught that only a man and woman can have a legitimate marriage. Just thinking ahead. I think these folks always have an agenda.

I object to Catholic schools existing that do not remain faithful to the teachings of the Church. It seems to me that Catholics need to try to address education as teams in their own area in the form of “Home Schooling”. The USCCB only has authority so much as whether or not your ordinary lends it to the organization. At least that’s how I understand it.

 

[zalzankavol]

The key point to remember is that our primary local authority is the bishop:

from Redemptionis Sacramentum:

[23.] The faithful “should cling to the Bishop as the Church does to Jesus Christ, and as Jesus Christ does to the Father, so that all may be in harmonious unity, and that they may abound to the glory of God”.54 (RS is quoting Lumen Gentium)

The USCCB is body that is best described as a tool for the bishops. It does not supplant their authority.

Sadly today there are too many who do not see the importance of their bishop, and in fact in some cases they seek to denigrate the bishops or minimize their role. Very early on in the Church we see the role of the bishop as being central to communion in the Church.