Do You Believe A Bishop Has Any Competence?

I get concerned when I hear people claim Bishops are speaking “outside of their area of competence.” Usually this happens when a Bishop says something about a moral question which has political ramifications. The argument goes: since it has entered into the realm of politics, let the statesman, not the Bishop, declare what they will; a Bishop has no authority here. Yet, because it is related to a moral issue, this ultimately is acting against the true competence of Bishops which is in the realm of faith and morals.

I believe this kind of argument ultimately will work against those who make it. They want Bishops to speak on moral issues, even political issues, when the Bishop is in agreement with them. For example, it is clear many approve Bishops when they speak about the evil of abortion and work against abortion in the political sphere. Yet, if one begins to take the approach that critics use, then one can begin to look at abortion and say: abortion is a medical procedure: doctors, not Bishops, are the ones with competence to discussion abortion and its ramifications. Let the doctors (and clinics) speak as they will—this is their area; a Bishop has no authority here.

The combination of the first kind of criticism (Bishops should not be interfering with political decisions) with the second (Bishops should not be interfering with medical decisions) has been used, and is being used, to justify the kind of force being put on Catholic hospitals to do procedures which go against Catholic morality. The state determines, by an act of political authority, which procedures should be made available at Catholic hospitals, by way of the medical authorities they call in support of that political decision. This, for example, explains why St Elizabeth’s Hospital in Humboldt, Saskatchewa has been ordered to pay nearly $8000 to a woman for being denied tubal ligation.

If you do not want more decisions like this, you must begin to work with your Bishop and realize he does have competence, even when it is an issue of morality and how morality should be maintained in a given political situation.