Bishop Selection Report (continued)

By James D. Rooney of the VOTF Bishop Selection Committee

The Second Vatican Council encouraged a renewed role for the laity in Church affairs, leading many theologians to call for a return of more local participation in episcopate selection. Leonard Swidler reminds us that Professor Josef Ratzinger - who later became Pope Benedict XVI - was among those making this call.

A bishop today must submit his resignation upon turning 75 years of age. The Pope typically appoints a new bishop guided by recommendations from the Apostolic Nuncio, the Vatican's local "ambassador"; these recommendations are generally based on information confidentially gathered from neighboring bishops, some diocesan priests, and at the Nuncio's discretion, select laity. 

In 2010, I helped Boston-based Voice of the Faithful, a lay organization formed in the wake of local clergy abuse, launch a Bishop Selection Input Initiative. We petitioned Pope Benedict XVI to require wider input in bishop selection, predicated on the notion that all laity in a diocese should be encouraged to offer suggestions to ensure the Nuncio's recommendations enjoy a breadth and depth of information and insight.

We subsequently created the first-ever web portal (www.votf.org/bishop) by which Catholics in any US diocese with a pending bishop vacancy can provide input on the needs and opportunities in that diocese, ideal qualities in their next bishop, and names of potential candidates directly to the U.S. Apostolic Nuncio. 

Upon our inquiry, the US Nuncio, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, said he would welcome "any expressions of a lay Catholic in regard to his or her own concerns in regard to a new bishop or recommendation(s) that he or she might propose," and that VOTF was "free to encourage such communications." 

This reinforced our own understanding of our right to promote our portal under Canon Law 212 which maintains the laity "have the right, indeed at times the duty, in keeping with their knowledge, competence, and position, to manifest to the sacred Pastors their views on matters which concern the good of the Church."

In Fall 2012 Chicago area VOTF affiliates recruited nearly 200 area Catholics to provide input via the VOTF web portal, and an additional 200+ on a related survey. This information was kept confidential and transmitted to the Apostolic Nuncio. The Chicago Tribune and other media noted the overall effort.
Since then Catholics in several U.S. states have utilized the web portal, with lay groups in US dioceses like Albany and Minneapolis pursuing or considering their own related efforts. 

As reported in a February National Catholic Reporter article, Archbishop Vigano has since qualified that he does not support input coming to him via a third party intermediary.

As organizations like We Are Church Ireland consider their own bishop selection efforts, they might consider creating similar on-line tools that facilitate wide input upon consultation with Church officials, or petition the local Church to create their own for the laity's use. 

Cardinals from around the world gathered at this time last year to elect Pope Francis. Should not Catholics from across a diocese gather on-line to provide input on their next bishop? 
 
James Davitt Rooney is Principal of Rooney Associates LLC, a London and Boston-based consultancy and holds an MPA from Harvard Kennedy School and a BA in Ethics and Political Philosophy from Brown University. His great-grandparents are from Belfast, and the views in this piece are his own.

James D. Rooney
Rooney Associates LLC
London – Boston             
http://www.rooneyassociates.usjames_rooney@ksg01.harvard.edu