The bishop

SADLY buried under piles of useless political controversies and other sensational time-wasters is that on October 16, the 25th year of his pontificate, Pope John Paul II issued a document of crucial importance to the life of the Catholic Church.

Entitled "Pastores gregis" (The Shepherds of The Flock), it defines the role of the bishop in the Catholic Church and in the world. But to me it highlighted an often-ignored truth -- we all need to be united with our bishops to be united with Christ.

This may be a shocker to some Catholics, many of whom do not even know who their bishop is, much less know what the bishop should be in their lives. And they may be considered good Catholics in that they pray, go to Mass and help the poor. Yet ignorance can still grip them.

For some, the bishop is some old fat man who may be nice to have around in some public acts. Nothing much more than that. There certainly is a crying need to know more about the bishops! And "Pastores gregis" can help fulfill this need. If only more people can read and study it!

Recently someone told me that he made a very important discovery. And that is that Christ can be encountered -- even now -- in the poor. You don't have to wait for his second coming, he beamed. Nor pray nor go to Mass. It's enough to help the poor.

Fine, I said. I agree at least in part. I can readily find gospel passages to support that claim.

But unless this Christ-encounter with the poor goes together with the other ways of Christ-encounter, like the doctrine, the sacraments, the hierarchy, etc., then it probably may just be one of those showy, feel-good claims that are in the end without real substance and effect.

What I always fear is when people isolate one part of an ensemble to explain the whole Christian life. Especially in matters of interpreting the Bible and in understanding the nature and life of the Catholic Church, this approach is extremely dangerous.

This approach may be called oversimplification or reductionism. In the process of getting to what is essential and the core of a certain thing, they arrive at a caricature. It can give them some semblance of the real thing, but it never gets to that thing.

It's important to know about the bishops because they are the ones given by Christ with full powers to represent him in building and sustaining the Catholic Church, Christ's mystical body. We certainly cannot treat our bishops as if they were just some decorative items.

Of course, these powers are given first of all to the Pope, and also to the College of Bishops, that is, the Pope and all of the bishops. In a certain dynamics of exercising these powers, the bishops build and sustain the church by preaching, sanctifying and governing the church.

That means all of us, together and individually! This is why the bishops play an important role in our lives. They are the ones who build and nourish our Christian life. Imagine if we just ignore them!

We have the duty to be united with them, both affectively and effectively. We should pray for them, offer sacrifices and other forms of support to help them. And we should truly follow their teachings and indications, and do our part in sustaining the life and growth of the Catholic Church.

As long as they preach, sanctify and govern us in union with the Pope and other bishops, they in effect preach, sanctify and govern us in Christ. It is Christ who is given to us. It's grace and supernatural life that is imparted to us.

They definitely, like any mortal men, have their own share of weaknesses. Yes, they can have their personal shortcomings, falls and mistakes. But these should be all the more reason for us to help them, not to start backbiting and complaining.

It's important that we mature in our understanding of our life as members of the Catholic Church. We have to stay away from some sad social and political phenomena where we witness a lot of crab-mentality, negativism, in short, a lot of immaturity where we need to continue to wipe the noses and asses of some people.

We don't grow and progress, we waste a lot of resources, we fail to correspond to the call of Christ and to the abundant graces he sends for us. We fail to exercise our faith and just dare to depend on our reasoning and gut-feels that so far have consistently ended in some trouble.

Yes, we have to take our bishops more seriously.

And if this is so, you can just imagine what tremendous responsibility bishops have. That's why in that recent papal document, bishops are called to be real men of God, saintly, knowledgeable, prudent, etc.

I quote one line from a Church Father, Saint Gregory Nazianzen, cited also in the document, and with this I end. It tells what bishops should do:

"First be purified and then purify others, first allow yourself to be instructed by wisdom and then instruct others, first become light and then enlighten others, first draw close to God and then guide others to him, first be holy yourself and then make others holy."