Preaching Bishops

I’ve been doing some etymological research. Bishop , you might know, is a modernized version of the Old English bisceop , derived from the Latin episcopus , which comes from the Greek episkopos . And epi-skopos means “one who watches over.” Not surprisingly, this wasn’t a New Testament neologism— episkopos was originally a title for government officials, applied analogously to apostolic Church leaders.

All of which is a long way of affirming that, yes, bishops by their very title, not to mention the power bestowed in ordination, are called to watch over their flocks. Which makes Anthony Stevens-Arroyo’s quibble on the Washington Post religion blog so odd, however unsurprising it may be. Stevens-Arroyo is pleased that there’s been an apparent hiatus in the refusal of Communion to pro-choice politicians, but he’s not so happy when bishops issue verbal reminders of Church teaching. Specifically, he takes offense at “press releases” admonishing public figures not to profess in actions what they do not profess in words.

In case you haven’t noticed, Catholic bishops have stopped denying communion to politicians in this 2008 political campaign. The new approach is to invoke spiritual counseling and then publish a press release.
Such was the path chosen by Cardinal Egan in New York, who counseled former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani not to take communion; and by Archbishop Naumann, of Kansas City who did the same to Governor Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas.
. . .
I am not against Catholics in office following the moral teachings of the Church: but I question the wisdom of a bishop publishing his “spiritual” advice. There are better ways of counseling Catholics than issuing press releases. Is the Archbishop so focused on Catholic values that he has misunderstood politics? Or is he so focused on politics that he has misunderstood Catholic values?

Egan, if I remember correctly, privately spoke with Guiliani, and it was only when Guiliani received Communion at the papal Mass in St. Patrick’s—an eminently public act of outward union with the Church—that Egan publicly responded. Of course, there’s always the question of what is most prudent and what is most pastorally effective, but so long as the Church is comprised of flesh-and-blood people who are part of a larger public society, it is only natural that the bishop will also need to assume public (i.e., clear, open, vocal) leadership. And when the press is asking questions (to put their interactions with the Church in the most charitable terms), the bishop might even need to preach through a press release. It’s not a particularly novel approach—Had the Areopagites had newspapers, I wouldn’t be surprised to find an op-ed therein signed “Paul.”

[One more etymological musing: Bishops, from the earliest years of the Church, were her official preachers. And preach is, of course, from the Latin predicare , meaning “to publicly proclaim.” To publicly proclaim the Truth of Jesus—revealed in the Gospel, manifest in the Eucharist. For that, at least, we hope and pray.]