In the Roman Catholic Church, an Episcopal Conference, Conference of Bishops, or National Conference of Bishops is a conference consisting of all the bishops within a given territory. Episcopal conferences are generally defined by geographic borders, with all the bishops in a given country belonging to the same conference. The Roman Catholic Church is the largest Christian body in the world. ... For other uses, see Bishop (disambiguation). ...
Certain tasks and authority are delegated to Episcopal conferences, particularly with regard to setting the liturgicalnorms for the Mass. Episcopal conferences are delegated thier authority by the Holy See, and decisions of an Epsicopal conference are subject to ratification from the Holy See. Individual bishops do not relinquish thier authority to the conference, and remain responsible for the governance of thier respective diocese. From the Greek word λειτουργια, which can be transliterated as leitourgia, meaning the work of the people, a liturgy comprises a prescribed religious ceremony, according to the traditions of a particular religion; it may refer to, or include, an elaborate formal ritual (such as the Catholic Mass), a daily activity... The word norm coming from the latin word norma which means angle measure or (lawlike) rule, has a number of meanings: A social or sociological norm; see norm (sociology). ... Then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Benedict XVI) presiding at the 2005 Easter Vigil Mass. ... Pope Pius XI blesses Bishop Stephen Alencastre as fifth Apostolic Vicar of the Hawaiian Islands in a Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace window. ...
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) is the official organization of the Philippine episcopacy. ... In 1958, the government of China appointed two Catholic bishops. ... The Irish Bishops Conference is the official gathering of the Roman Catholic Bishops in Ireland. ... The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (also known as the USCCB) is the official governing body of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. ...
he Bishops' Conference of Scotland is the permanently constituted assembly of the Bishops of Scotland.
To promote its work the Conference establishes various agencies, the most important of which are termed Commissions.
The agencies have an advisory function in relation to the Conference; each, according to its remit, may also have an executive function; and, between meetings of the Conference, an agency may respond to an immediate problem by taking decisions or issuing a statement in its own name.
Bishop Wilton Gregory of Belleville, Ill., is ending his three-year term as president, having guided the group through possibly the most tumultuous period in its history.
At its core, the bishops' conference is not a governing or enforcement body but rather a collegial one that can only set guidelines that direct the church on a national level.
But longtime observers of the conference are watching the election closely because "there's enormous significance" on whom the bishops choose as their next president and vice president, said Francis Butler, president of Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities, a consortium of foundations that fund Catholic causes.
Feeds |
Contact