The bishop’s big job

by Editor · Published June 1, 2011 · Updated March 6, 2012

Many South Africans Catholics will have had cause over the past few years to rejoice in the appointment of a new bishop in their diocese.

When The Southern Cross in a September 2006 editorial welcomed the present apostolic nuncio, Archbishop James P Green, to our region, we noted that �it is conceivable that among the priorities our local Church leaders might wish to bring to the nuncio�s attention is the high number of vacant or soon to be vacant dioceses in Southern Africa�.

Archbishop Green clearly made the process of appointing new bishops a priority. In meeting this challenge�which is an immense responsibility, because a poorly chosen bishop can create big problems�the nuncio evidently has been creative in submitting the names of suitable candidates to the Holy See.

More than half of the dioceses in the Southern African region are now headed by bishops appointed during Archbishop Green�s tenure.

Some of these appointments have proved to be particularly wise. The question of naming a successor to Archbishop Lawrence Henry in Cape Town was exceptionally tricky. The transfer of Archbishop Stephen Brislin from Kroonstad to Cape Town has proved to be a masterstroke; the faithful and clergy of the archdiocese have taken the man from the Free State to their heart.

Likewise, the transfer of Archbishop William Slattery from Kokstad to Pretoria, another complex archdiocese, has been warmly received by both the clergy and faithful there.

The snag in these transfers, of course, resides in the dioceses from which the new archbishops were transferred having lost outstanding bishops. We trust that Fr Peter Holiday will be an excellent successor to Archbishop Brislin after his installation in Kroonstad later this month.

By all accounts, bishops who have moved to a diocese they previously were unfamiliar with have generally assimilated and connected with their new flock quickly.

This week we report on Bishop Abel Gabuza�s pastoral visit to a remote parish in his large diocese of Kimberley. It is encouraging to read about the community�s enthusiasm for their bishop, who until recently was a priest in Pretoria, and a stranger to the diocese he now heads.

Bishops need that support. Being named a bishop is a great honour, but it is also a lonely and colossal task, performed by a relatively small number of men who must find ways of meeting the trust that has been invested in them.

The late Archbishop Denis Hurley of Durban used to talk about the loneliness of the episcopal position. The price of the mitre is indeed steep: a bishop must take decisions that will not please everybody. A good bishop will make difficult and hopefully wise judgments, even at risk of upsetting friends. Expectations of him differ so much that invariably he will disappoint somebody at some point. And a bishop knows that some people will find it difficult to pardon a mistake or lapse in judgment.

A bishop, as Pope Benedict once put it, is expected to be a father, brother and friend to his clergy and shepherd to the laity. But that is the abbreviated job description. He must also be a spiritual leader, pastor, administrator, human resource executive, social advocate, promoter of vocations, psychologist, arbitrator, moderator, reconciler, teacher and student, and guarantor of unity within his diocese�preferably exercising all these roles with a measure of collegiality.

The Body of Christ must be thankful to those who assume these great responsibilities. We must pray for our bishops that they may satisfy the enormous expectations invested in them, that they exercise their authority with wisdom, that they won�t be disheartened when things go wrong and remain humble when things go well; and that they will not be too lonely.

We must commend our bishops when they perform their obligations well. And when they do not, we must feel able to communicate our concerns as well, with charity and respect.

Above all, we must give thanks to our bishops for their selfless service to the People of God, and offer our prayers for them in their demanding ministry.