Choosing bishops

THE IMPASSIONED plea by former Bishop of Derry Edward Daly for an end to compulsory celibacy in the Catholic Church has attracted…

THE IMPASSIONED plea by former Bishop of Derry Edward Daly for an end to compulsory celibacy in the Catholic Church has attracted most attention in his memoir A Troubled See, just published. With the declining number of Catholic priests in Ireland, this is hardly surprising.

The very fact that there are already married Catholic priests, whether in the Eastern Uniate Churches or the Vatican’s newly created personal prelature for disaffected, married Anglican clergy simply adds weight to Bishop Daly’s words. There have been such calls in the past from bishops Willie Walsh and Brendan Comiskey. The former was ignored and the latter was summoned to Rome.

As significant in his book is Bishop Daly’s criticisms of how bishops are appointed in Ireland. He notes: “Bishops who served in the dioceses of Ireland for the last 100 years have been largely drawn from a small elite group within the priesthood.” He estimates that “more than 75 per cent of the bishops were appointed from less than 20 per cent of the priests” and that this latter cadre were “priests who were engaged or who have spent most of their priestly lives engaged in full-time teaching” whether at second or third level. It was his impression that Rome always considered “that teaching and orthodoxy were primary and that parish pastoral experience was secondary” when choosing bishops. He believed this paucity of pastorally experienced clergy in senior positions inhibited the renewal promised by the Second Vatican Council. Of more immediate relevance is that this lack of pastoral experience most likely contributed to an approach by Irish bishops to the abuse of children by priests which was primarily academic.

Had those bishops been chosen from among the majority of priests in parishes, it is more likely they would have had greater insight into the human anguish involved, and acted accordingly. These days priests and laity are mostly ignored and a bishop is appointed by Rome, generally in consultation with the papal nuncio. It was not always so in Ireland.

READ MORE

In 1885, Dr William Walsh was chosen as archbishop of Dublin by vote of its parish priests. This was reported by the Dublin press before being confirmed by Rome. Indeed from from 1829 to 1925 Irish bishops were appointed in a similar fashion; a shortlist of three were nominated by assembly of cathedral canons and parish priests. Election results were made public before being sent to Rome, which made the final choice. History has shown a better way.