Post-Vatican II ecclesiology has continually stressed the importance
of bishops in the Christian community, but very little is known about these
men who are the principal shepherds of the church. Who are they, how are
they appointed, what do they do? These are questions that few scholars
can answer, let alone the average Catholic.
The importance of bishops in the church is not only indicated by theologians
but also by the response to the U.S. bishops' pastoral letter, "The Challenge
of Peace." The reaction to this letter proved that bishops could have an
impact not only within the church but also outside it.
Despite the growing importance of bishops in both theory and practice,
little is known about them and how they operate. In The Catholic Priest
in the United States: Psychological Investigations ( 1972), Eugene
C. Kennedy and Victor J. Heckler noted, "Empirical research by psychologists
and sociologists on bishops and other administrators is apparently nonexistent."
In the hopes of improving this situation, I began collecting information
on the American bishops: In order to supplement the data currently available
from The Official Catholic Directory and the Catholic Almanac,
I sent a brief questionnaire to the American bishops requesting information
on their backgrounds prior to their appointments as bishops. The response
rate was a remarkable 90 percent, and in this article I give the preliminary
findings from my study.
The average member of the N.C.C.B. is 64 years old, with the oldest
group being, of course, the retirees (78 years). The four nonretired American
cardinals have an average age of 64 years, while the 28 archbishops as
a group are two years younger. Ordinaries (the principal bishop leading
a diocese) are on average only a couple of years older than auxiliaries--60.5
years as compared to 58.5 years.
Whether the bishops are considered old, young or middle aged, depends
on one's perspective and probably one's own age. But to put these ages
in an American context it should be remembered that the President of the
United States is 72 years old, and the average age of the Supreme Court
Justices is 68. On the other hand, the average age of the U.S. Senate is
54.4 years and of the House 46.5 years. When the Rev. Andrew M. Greeley
surveyed American priests (The Catholic Priest in the United States:
Sociological Investigations, 1972), he found that "68 percent of the
bishops are over 55 as opposed to 23 percent of the active diocesan priests."
The social origins of the American Catholic bishops, however, appear
to be rather modest--64 percent of their fathers did not graduate from
High school, and only 12 percent graduated from college. Father Greeley
in his 1972 study of American priests found that although the fathers of
bishops scored 0.7 points higher on his occupational prestige index than
did fathers of priests over 55 years of age, the bishops' fathers were
less educated than the fathers of these priests. These findings indicate
that there is no clear link between socioeconomic class and higher office
in the American Catholic Church as there is in many other organizations.
Their roots in the working class may partially explain why the American
bishops have taken "liberal" positions on economic policy questions, especially
since these positions have accurately reflected papal encyclicals.
Surprisingly few of the bishops have ecclesiastical degrees. About 10
percent have S.T.D.'s (theology), and another 10 percent have J. C.D.'s
(canon law). Two percent have both. An additional 10 percent have licentiates
or bachelor's degrees in canon law. Most of these degrees are either from
Roman schools, such as the Gregorian University, or from The Catholic University
of America in Washington, D. C. These institutions are the ecclesiastical
academies recognized as training grounds for future bishops. At least one-third
of the bishops studied in Rome at one time or another, and one-third of
them studied at Catholic University. Interestingly, a number of bishops
who had attended The Catholic University of America indicated on their
questionnaires that they had never gone to a nonseminary Catholic university.
This would seem to indicate that when they attended Catholic University
their education was for all practical purposes segregated from that of
the non-seminary students.
Working in a chancery, the diocesan bureaucracy, appears to be an almost
essential prerequisite for becoming a bishop. Less than 20 percent report
never having worked in a chancery. Half of the bishops held one or more
of the following top chancery positions at some time prior to becoming
bishops: vicar general, chancellor, vice or assistant chancellor or secretary
to the bishop. Nearly 16 percent of the bishops had been both chancellors
and secretaries, while another 12 percent had only been secretaries, and
another 14 percent had been only chancellors.
Other important offices in the diocesan bureaucracy which were held
by bishops before their elevation included director of Catholic Charities
(8 percent) and superintendent of education ( 10 percent). Besides chanceries
and parishes, the other major breeding ground for future bishops is seminaries.
Almost 20 percent of the bishops were either rectors or other administrators
at seminaries, and another 1 1 percent were teachers.
One surprising finding of my survey is that although 37 percent of the
bishops were pastors immediately prior to their appointment, one-third
of the bishops were never pastors at all. These bishops worked much of
their priestly lives in chanceries or seminaries. As priests they were
singled out at a young age for administrative work for the diocese rather
than for the normal pastoral duties that would lead to a pastorate. There
is, however, some evidence for believing that a few chancery officials
are sent out to be pastors "to get the experience" immediately prior to
becoming bishops.
Less than 8 percent of the bishops were members of religious orders
before their appointments although 40 percent of the priests in the United
States are religious. One-third of the religious appointed bishops were
Hispanic or black (as compared to 7 percent of all the bishops), indicating
a willingness to look for minority candidates wherever they can be found.
More than half of the bishops (56 percent) received their first episcopal
appointment in the diocese where they had been diocesan priests, and an
additional 17 percent came from the same ecclesiastical province as the
diocese they were appointed to. (The dioceses in the United States are
organized into 33 provinces, each under an archbishop.)
The American bishops are very mobile: 36 percent of them have been moved
to another diocese after their first appointments. Also, 38 percent of
those first appointed as auxiliaries have been promoted to ordinaries.
These percentages are higher if one eliminates from consideration recently
appointed bishops. For example, 41 percent of the bishops who received
their first appointments prior to 1980 were later moved to another diocese.
The figure rises to 46 percent if only bishops appointed before 1975 are
considered. Thus, a bishop has about a 50-50 chance of being moved to another
diocese after his first appointment as a bishop. The odds are almost as
good that an auxiliary will eventually be made an ordinary since 43 percent
of those appointed as auxiliaries before 1975 are now ordinaries.
The average ordinary received his diocese at the age of 51 , and 57
percent were already bishops. Auxiliaries promoted to ordinaries tend to
be appointed auxiliaries at an earlier age (46.8 years) than those not
promoted (49.8 years). On average it takes about 5 years to be promoted
from auxiliary to ordinary.
Only 19 percent of the ordinaries are bishops in the same diocese where
they were ordained as priests. An additional 35 percent came from the same
ecclesiastical province as the diocese in which they are ordinaries. Only
10 percent of the ordinaries were auxiliaries in the diocese to which they
were first appointed ordinaries. Perhaps one reason ordinaries are not
always chosen from the diocese they head is the influence of archbishops
in making episcopal appointment. Their ability to have their own men appointed
ordinaries can be seen from the fact that, although archdioceses only make
up 19 percent of the dioceses, 40 percent of the ordinaries come originally
from archdioceses.
More ordinaries tend to have had experience working in chanceries than
auxiliaries have. Top chancery positions were held by 58 percent of the
ordinaries but by only 42 percent of the auxiliaries. Likewise, 21 percent
of the auxiliaries say they never held a chancery position, a claim matched
by only 12.7 percent of the ordinaries. There was no difference between
ordinaries and auxiliaries when it came to experience as pastors.
The average archbishop received his archdiocese at the age of 53. Only
29 percent of the archbishops were ordained priests in the archdiocese
that they now govern. An additional 10 percent came from the same ecclesiastical
province as the archdiocese. Sixteen percent of the archbishops were not
bishops when they received their appointments. About 64 percent were auxiliaries
before being appointed ordinaries, and 61 percent of the archbishops were
ordinaries before becoming archbishops. It takes an average of 9.6 years
to be promoted from auxiliary to archbishop, or 6. 1 years from auxiliary
to bishop and 6.2 from bishop to archbishop (the last two numbers do not
add up to 9.6 because some auxiliaries are made archbishops without having
been ordinaries).
Like other ordinaries many archbishops worked as priests in diocesan
chanceries. Sixty-five percent of them held top positions in chanceries,
but a surprising 23 percent never worked in a chancery before they were
first appointed bishop. Sixteen percent of the archbishops were working
in seminaries at the time of their appointments as bishops, and one-fourth
of the archbishops were administrators in seminaries at some time prior
to becoming bishops. The archbishops are better educated than other bishops--26
percent of them have J.C.D.'s and 7 percent have S.T.D.'s, while an additional
7 percent have both. Half did some of their studies in Rome, and 53 percent
attended Catholic University in Washington.
For example, most of the clergy in Boston and New York would probably
like to have one of their own appointed archbishop. The statistics indicate,
however, that only 29 percent of the archbishops were ordained in their
archdioceses. This indicates that the Apostolic Delegate and the Vatican
Congregation of Bishops look at the local priests and auxiliaries, but
also look elsewhere. It is most likely that the future archbishops of Boston
and New York are already bishops since only 16 percent of the current archbishops
were appointed while priests. Most likely they are already ordinaries,
as were 61 percent of the current archbishops. They will probably have
held high positions in either chanceries or seminaries. There is also a
good chance they have a degree in canon law or theology and went to school
in Rome or at The Catholic University of America.
It could be argued that the New York and Boston Archdioceses are unique
and therefore require a bishop chosen the local clergy. In that case there
are 19 living bishops who were ordained priests in New York and eight in
Boston (if 1 missed someone, it is his own fault for not answering my questionnaire!).
Since the average age of an archbishop when he is appointed is 53, those
65 years of age or older would probably not be considered.
Of the 19 New Yorkers, 10 are under 65. All but three held major chancery
positions prior to being appointed bishops, and one of the three, Bishop
Austin B. Vaughan (56), has been rector of the seminary and has an S.T.D.
from the Gregorian University. He and Bishop Theodore E. McCarrick (53)
of Metuchen, N. J., statistically, appear to be the most conventional local
candidates because of their age and experience. Bishop McCarrick has a
Ph.D. in sociology from The Catholic University of America and was president
of the Catholic University of Puerto Rico. He was also secretary to Cardinal
Cooke and associate vicar for education.
If the Pope decides to appoint someone from the New York Province, then
the field increases by 10 who are under 65, of whom five are ordinaries.
Most had experience in chanceries or seminaries. Bishops Matthew H. Clark
(45) of Rochester and Howard J. Hubbard (45) of Albany are interesting
in that they were both appointed ordinaries at relatively young ages (41
and 38), both studied in Rome, and they are the only New York bishops under
50.
Six of the bishops who were ordained priests in Boston are under 65,
and five of these are auxiliaries in Boston. All of them have held high
chancery positions or been rectors of seminaries. Bishops John M. D'Arcy
(51) and Alfred C. Hughes (50) have S.T.D.'s from the Gregorian University.
When the Boston Province is considered, eight more bishops are under 65,
and five of these are ordinaries. Bishop Daniel A. Cronin (55) of Fall
River has an S.T.D. from the Gregorian University, and Bishops Joseph P.
Delaney (49) of Fort Worth, Tex., and John A. Marshall (55) of Burlington,
Vt., have S.T.L.'s from the Gregorian University. Bishop Louis E. Gelineau
(55) of Providence, R.I., has a J.C.L. from Catholic University. Auxiliary
Bishop Robert E. Mulvee (53) of Springfield, Mass., has a J.C.D. from the
Lateran University in Rome, and Auxiliary Bishop Amedee W. Proulx (51)
of Portland, Me., has a J.C.L. and S.T.L. from Catholic University.
Finally, it should be emphasized that this study does not examine all
of the characteristics, nor even the most important ones, of a bishop.
More important than any of the qualities measured in this study are pastoral
sensitivity and holiness, qualities not easily susceptible to measurement.
This study only attempts to look at easily measurable factors telling about
the training and assignments of priests who eventually become bishops.
Since the data is limited, the conclusions must also be limited.
By Thomas J. Reese, S.J., senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center
America, November 12, 1983
Copyright © 1983 by America
Press
All rights reserved
Numbers and Ages
Approximately 380 bishops are members of the National Conference of Catholic
Bishops (N.C.C.B.). These numbers change constantly because of deaths and
new appointments. They come from 178 dioceses covering every location in
the United States together with the Virgin Islands and Guam (Puerto Rico
has its own conference). Besides ordinaries, there are 1 15 auxiliaries,
82 retired bishops and a few bishops holding nondiocesan appointments.
The N.C.C.B. includes 14 Eastern rite bishops.
Ecclesiastical Elite?
From a sociological point of view, the bishops can be considered an elite.
Normally, elites come from higher social and economic backgrounds than
other people in their organizations. This is true of economic elites and
"other strategic elites, such as the military, the diplomatic corps, intellectuals,
journalists and religious leaders," according to David A. Putnam in The
Comparative Study of Political Elites. A study of the Church of England,
for example, found that "bishops have higher social origins than local
clergy."
Education
Two-thirds of the American bishops began their ecclesiastical careers in
a minor seminary, a phenomenon that will surely decline since many of these
institutions are now closed. Almost half (47 percent) of the bishops attended
only seminaries for their higher educations, while an additional 45 percent
also attended a Catholic college or university. One out of five bishops
attended a non- Catholic college or university for part of his education.
Most bishops never received more than a bachelor's degree for all their
schooling, although 10 percent report having doctorates and 26 percent
have a master's. An additional 5 percent, most of whom worked in Catholic
Charities, have a master's of social work (M.S.W.).
Ecclesiastical Ladder
While some of the bishops studied in Rome or at Catholic University as
part of their seminary training, others were sent there to get higher degrees,
especially in canon law. Canon law is an important discipline for priests
working in diocesan chanceries, as did 80 percent of the bishops. One out
of four of the bishops were chancellors immediately prior to being appointed
a bishop, and an additional 4 percent were either assistant chancellors
or secretaries to a bishop. But 37 percent of the bishops say they were
pastors immediately prior to their appointments while another 10 percent
were working in seminaries.
Appointments and Promotions
The average bishop was 48.8 years old at the time of his episcopal appointment.
Two-thirds of the time this first appointment was as an auxiliary (plus
another 3 percent who were appointed coadjutors).
Conclusion
From the results of this study, is it possible to make any predictions
about future appointments, for example to the Boston or New York Archdioceses?
Not really, but it is possible by looking at past appointments to describe
a typical appointee and to make educated guesses.
See also