How do Bishops monitor their diocese?

[Elzee]

I know we have very orthodox Bishops with pockets of ‘troublesome’ parishes. Seems to me that either: the Bishop is orthodox and just doesn’t ‘manage’ well to get the priests/parishes in line (afraid of losing priests?), or they are not aware of what’s going on in these parishes. We all know how stretched many diocesan staffs are.

Does anyone know how Bishops monitor (for lack of a better word) the faithfulness of their priests and parishes?

And, secondly, what choices does a Bishop have in terms of disciplining priests who allow abuses during the Mass, do not support Catholic doctrine (birth control, purgatory, etc.). How can a Bishop get a diocesan priest to ‘fall in line’ if he really doesn’t want to? With relatively few priests, I imagine removing a priest would not be a viable option to many Bishops.

 

[cameron_lansing]

Elzee:

I know we have very orthodox Bishops with pockets of ‘troublesome’ parishes. Seems to me that either: the Bishop is orthodox and just doesn’t ‘manage’ well to get the priests/parishes in line (afraid of losing priests?), or they are not aware of what’s going on in these parishes. We all know how stretched many diocesan staffs are.

Does anyone know how Bishops monitor (for lack of a better word) the faithfulness of their priests and parishes?

And, secondly, what choices does a Bishop have in terms of disciplining priests who allow abuses during the Mass, do not support Catholic doctrine (birth control, purgatory, etc.). How can a Bishop get a diocesan priest to ‘fall in line’ if he really doesn’t want to? With relatively few priests, I imagine removing a priest would not be a viable option to many Bishops.

Bishops rely on reports from trusted priests and other members of the Christian faithful which they would then investigate in some way.

The law, not to mention the bonds of Christian charity that ought to bind priests to their bishops, really presumes the good will, voluntary compliance and obedient cooperation. So short of beginning a penal process, the bishops warn, correct, admonish (canon 1339). Canon 1341 says that an ordinary is to take care to initiate a judicial or administrative process to impose or declare penalties only after he has ascertained that fraternal correction or rebuke or other means of pastoral solicitude cannot sufficiently repair the scandal, restore justice, reform the offender.

After that, it gets complicated. The imposition of penalties is highly regulated in Church law. Bishops may also issue precepts, a kind of law that attaches to the person, in regard to urging or compelling the observance of Church law.

There are things like the deprivation of honors and titles, suspending faculties, transfer and removal from office, and these involve following the procedures of canon law. It is difficult to remove a pastor from office in particular. Dismissal from the clerical state is an ultimate kind of penalty.

But in general, the purpose of penalty is to induce reform rather than to exact payment, so to speak, for wrong doing.

There are special provisions in the case of allegations of the sexual abuse of minors that essentially take the matter out of the bishop’s hands.