Priests, Bishops and the Laity
I've been thinking about the difficult situation faced by much of our clergy in this country today. There are, what, 11 episcopal vacancies at present? That demonstrates a worrying lack of support for our priests. Priests should be united to their Bishops in a special communion of sacrament and ministry, through which the Church, the mystical Body of Christ, is built up. As St. Irenaeus testified, it is through those who were appointed bishops by the apostles, and through their successors down in our own time, the apostolic tradition is manifested and preserved. ( LG 20 ). Priests need bishops to refer to, to validate their commitment to the whole body of the Church; their unity. This is an key dimension, because a bishop has no authority apart from that of the pope, and unless he is teaching the faith of the Apostles ( LG 22 ). The fact that we have so many diocese where we have no bishops at the moment really worries me. Those bishops like ours in Brentwood who h...