Overview

How does one become a bishop in the Catholic Church? Electing our Bishops: How the Catholic Church Should Choose Its Leaders explains how history, politics, and religious tradition converge to produce the episcopacy. The book gives an historical overview from the earliest times when bishops were elected by the clergy and people of the diocese to the present day where they are normally appointed by the pope. In light of the current clergy sexual abuse scandal, many distinguished theologians, canonists, and church historians have called for greater popular participation in the selection of bishops, and Electing our Bishops discusses ideas for new forms of election that involve both clergy and laity. This book is an important tool for Catholics who want to understand the history and process of the election of bishops as well as how the process might change in the future.

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9780742558199

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Reviews

The choice of bishops in the Catholic Church is controversial as a result of episcopal handling of the sexual abuse scandal. Joseph F. O'Callaghan proposes returning to a practice found in some locales in the early centuries of the church-the popular election of bishops. O'Callaghan shows the complexities of this process over the centuries and suggests ways in which the practice could be implemented. Even those who differ with his proposal-as I do-will find food for thought in this sweeping historical survey of a vital church matter.--Terrence Prendergast, S.J.

[O'Callaghan] has written a book that should be required reading for canonists, ecclesiologists, historians, and hierarchs themselves.....--Adam A.J. DeVille Anglican Theological Review, 89:4

Author Information

Joseph F. O'Callaghan is professor emeritus in the department of history at Fordham University. He is past president of the American Catholic Historical Association and is the author of several books, notably Reconquest and Crusade in Medieval Spain and Alfonso X and the Cantigas de Santa Maria: A Poetic Biography.

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