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Lumen Gentium 22
This paragraph deals with the relationship between the pope and bishops in the college of bishops. Like the apostolic college the bishops who are successors of the apostles, united with the successor of Peter, constitute a college. The bishops and pope are joined together, are related with and are united with one another. Peter, and by implication the bishop of Rome, has the origin of his office within the Twelve and is not outside or above that college. The college or body of bishops is a permanent continuation of the college of apostles. They are college by disposition of the Lord, not by necessity of history.
Particular councils
Particular councils in the early church arose from very particular political and social circumstances and were by nature very practical and pastoral. The first particular council of which there is an extant record took place in the late third century when the lapsi (lapsed), who buckled in various ways under persecution, were allowed to return to the church. A bigger problem for the bishops was the rebaptism of heretics, too big to solve locally among one or two bishops. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage in a letter of 250, called on bishops of the region to gather in council to tackle the issue properly (in Sieben 1988:31).
Spontaneous gatherings of bishops
The recent history of episcopal conferences starts as early as 1830 when the Belgian bishops gathered at Malines for mutual consultation (Feliciani 1974:16- 17). At this meeting bishops discussed questions relations with the political authorities of the day and matters liturgical, disciplinary, pastoral and several other church issues. They decided to meet annually from 1832. Soon the Vatican supported this decision. So useful was this local gathering of bishops that word spread to neighbouring churches, not in the least assisted eventually by Pope Leo XIII (Feliciani 1974:16).
Vatican II and thereafter
In Christus Dominus the bishops at Vatican II expressed the hope that particular councils may flourish with renewed vigour (CD 36), as they had all but disappeared from church life in the Latin Rite. In no small way did Vatican II emphasize the importance of these intermediary associations between the local church and its bishop and the universal church and ‘its bishop,’ the pope (LG 23). The church is a communion of churches. The collegiality among bishops is an expression of such communion. Recognising the value of particular churches – dioceses in a region, as in a bishops’ conference – is an essential element of collegiality.
Pope Paul VI – Ecclesiae Sanctae & Ecclesiae Imago
The council described a bishops’ conference as “an assembly in which the bishops of a certain country or region exercise their pastoral office jointly by devising forms of the apostolate and apostolic methods suitably adapted to the circumstances of the times” (CD 38). In 1966 Paul VI, by his motu proprio (at his own initiative) Apostolic Letter “Ecclesia Sanctae” established episcopal conferences, where none yet existed, prompting existing ones to draw up statutes and individual bishops who may not have been convinced, to join.
The 1985 synod of bishops
The Second Extraordinary Session of the Synod of Bishops in 1985, which contemplated the reception of Vatican II twenty years after its conclusion, called for a further study on episcopal conferences. Such a call points to the ambiguity surrounding the doctrine of collegiality and the nature of episcopal conferences. On the one hand, bishops consistently expressed a need for more space to act in episcopal conferences, or to be collegial. They desired to exercise their supreme power in the church in smaller collectivities outside ‘ecumenical’ council.
CONTENTS :
- CONTENTS
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- ABBREVIATIONS
- GLOSSARY
- GENERAL INTRODUCTION
- 1 MOTIVATION
- 2 SIGNIFICANCE
- 3 BASIC ASSUMPTION
- 4 METHODS OF RESEARCH
- 4.1 Observing the Conference
- 4.1.1 Conference meetings
- 4.1.2 Interviews and questionnaires
- 4.1.3 Conference documents
- 5 DIFFICULTIES AND LIMITATIONS
- 5.1 Focus
- 5.2 Involvement and distance
- 5.3 Out of date
- 6 LAYOUT OF THESIS
- PART I DEFINING EPISCOPAL COLLEGIALITY
- CHAPTER 1 EXPLANATION OF CONCEPTS
- INTRODUCTION
- 1 “COLLEGIALITY”
- 2 “EPISCOPAL COLLEGIALITY”
- 2.1 Collegiality in the church
- 3 “BISHOPS’ CONFERENCE”
- 4 ‘CHURCH’
- CONCLUSION
- CHAPTER 2 THE TEACHING OF LUMEN GENTIUM ON COLLEGIALITY
- INTRODUCTION
- 1 THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL
- 1.1 The historical context of Vatican II
- 1.2 The purpose of Vatican II
- 2 LUMEN GENTIUM AND THE DEBATE ON EPISCOPAL COLLEGIALITY
- 2.1 The contents of Lumen Gentium on collegiality
- 2.1.1 Lumen Gentium
- Excursus 1: On the collegial nature of the apostles’ ministry
- 2.1.2 Lumen Gentium
- Excursus 2: The problem of succession
- 2.1.3 Lumen Gentium
- Excursus 3: Who gets ordained and who not?
- 2.1.4 Lumen Gentium
- Excursus 4: Peter, the pope and the early church
- 2.1.5 Lumen Gentium
- CHAPTER 3 THE BISHOPS’ CONFERENCE AS EXPRESSION OF
- COLLEGIALITY
- INTRODUCTION
- 1 EPISCOPAL CONFERENCES IN HISTORY
- 1.1 Particular councils
- 1.2 Spontaneous gatherings of bishops
- 1.3 Vatican II and thereafter
- 1.3.1 Pope Paul VI – Ecclesiae Sanctae & Ecclesiae Imago
- 1.3.2 The 1985 synod of bishops
- 1.3.3 Pope John Paul II – Apostolos Suos
- 1.3.4 The 2001 Synod of bishops & Pastores Gregis
- 2 THE THEOLOGICAL NATURE OF EPISCOPAL CONFERENCES
- 3 THE FUNCTIONS OF EPISCOPAL CONFERENCES
- CHAPTER 4 COLLEGIALITY AND THE BISHOPS’ CONFERENCE
- PART II OBSERVING THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS’ CONFERENCE
- CHAPTER 5 DECISION-MAKING STRUCTURES OF THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS’ CONFERENCE
- CHAPTER 6 THE ORGANS OF THE SACBC
- CHAPTER 7 EXPRESSIONS OF COLLEGIALITY IN THE SACBC
- CHAPTER 8 THE STATE OF COLLEGIALITY IN THE SACBC
- CHAPTER 9 DEVELOPING A LOCAL MODEL OF COLLEGIALITY – INITIAL STEPS
GET THE COMPLETE PROJECT
A CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF COLLEGIALITY IN THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS’ CONFERENCE (SACBC): TOWARDS A LOCAL MODEL OF COLLEGIALITY
