Seminar Rethinking the Teaching Office of the Episcopal Conference
In a Worldwide Church
For the past twenty years, a group of internationally respected theologians and canon lawyers - The Peter and Paul Seminar – have been working on issues of ecclesial reform in the light of the theology of Vatican II. The Peter and Paul Seminar, which first met in Ottawa in 1998, is committed to assisting the Church in its ongoing reform. Its aim is to
propose appropriate canonical institutions to effect ecclesial reform, as well as
to facilitate Christian unity, in light of the ecclesiology of Vatican II. To date the Seminar has reflected on the collegiality of bishops, leadership in the local church, and the prerequisites for conversion in and of the Church.
Recently, the Seminar met in the University of Erfurt (Germany) to discuss the teaching authority of episcopal conferences. The meeting coincided with the twentieth anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter on ‘The Theological and Juridical Nature of
Episcopal Conferences’ (Apostolos suos) and reflected on Pope Francis’ invitation to further elaborate the doctrinal authority of these conferences. This meeting included experts
from thirteen countries and four continents, and had as its theme ‘Diversity and Unity – Rethinking the Teaching Office of the Episcopal Conference in a Worldwide Church’. The meeting sketched out key issues for further reflection by theologians and canonists to clarify further the teaching authority of episcopal conferences.
While episcopal conferences were a well-established feature of ecclesial life since the nineteenth century and were supported by successive popes, their theological and juridical status were a challenge to Vatican II. The Council described the bishop as a ‘vicar of Christ’ in his diocese and developed an understanding of the collegial nature of the bishops’ ministry, affirming that the college of bishops together with the pope can teach infallibly. The council deliberately left it to the post Vatican II era to elaborate on the theological foundation of episcopal conferences, which was the topic of two synods of bishops (1969 and 1985). In his 1998 letter Apostolos suos, Pope John Paul II presented a certain theological understanding of these conferences and outlined the rather strict conditions under which they exercise a magisterial role. When presenting the document, then Cardinal Ratzinger stated that it did not intend to answer all the theological questions about the nature of these conferences. More recently, Pope Francis has declared that the “juridical status of episcopal conferences which would see them as subjects of specific attributions, including genuine doctrinal authority, has not yet been sufficiently elaborated” (Evangelium gaudium, 32).
whole people of God, anointed by the Holy Spirit, the Seminar saw the need for further reflection on the role of the Holy Spirit in the Church, to integrate the notion of sensus fidelium, and to broaden the understanding of synodality. This raised the question of representation, that is, whose faith a bishop witnesses to: his own faith, that of the sensus fidelium in his own diocese, or that of the whole Church? The answer to this has implications also for the role of auxiliary or titular bishops in the conference. The Seminar discussed the possibility of particular councils that would allow the participation of laity, clergy and bishops, engaging in communal discernment processes; in this regard the current legislation for the Eastern churches could open new enriching avenues for the Latin Church. It furtherconsideredthe impact and immediacy of digitalization and information technologies on processes of discernment and their influence as hidden persuaders.
The Seminar proposed that these issues need further reflection by theologians and
canonists working in collaboration. It suggested that this might be enriching and beneficial for all concerned when this is done in dialogue with former and current presidents of episcopal conferences from different parts of the world. The proceedings of
the Erfurt Seminar will be published later this year, with a view to making the work of the Seminar more widely available.
