Our Bishop, the Right Reverend Terence Brain, outlines the identity and work of the Bishop.

The office of sanctifying

By his episcopal ordination, a bishop receives three “offices”. First, there is the office of sanctifying: growing in holiness through offering prayer and the sacraments, and especially the Mass, for himself and the priest and people whom he is called to serve and lead in the things of God. This is done by visiting the parish churches and chapels in the diocese and celebrating together with the local clergy and faithful. These visits are sometimes solemn (such as an official visitation by the Bishop); sometimes they are more “family visits” (such as celebrating an anniversary of a parish or of the priest). The office of sanctifying is also exercised when the bishop calls priests and people to the Cathedral to join with him in a solemn celebration, such as the Chrism Mass on Maundy Thursday morning, or Masses of ordination. If the formal duty of sanctifying is to be fruitful, then the bishop himself must be a man of prayer and not afraid to be alone with God.

The office of teaching

Secondly, there is the office of teaching. “Go out into the whole world, proclaim the Good News” (Mark 16,15), was the instruction Christ gave to his followers. The bishop has the responsibility to proclaim this Good News to all in the diocese. He will do this personally and with the collaboration of others, especially priests but also with parents, teachers and catechists. Through preaching, pastoral letters and giving talks or lectures, a bishop formally exercises this teaching authority. But proclaiming the Good News is not only done by formal teaching. It is also done through the charitable works that we all do. So the bishop is responsible for encouraging and leading in the corporal works of mercy that are undertaken in a diocese. There are many ways in which this is done. Such work reflects the great lesson of loving our neighbour as if he or she were Christ.

The office of ruling

Finally, there is the office of ruling. This third office of the bishop is to create within a diocese the spirit and organisation that allows all the faithful to live in harmony and unity while serving others by answering Christ’s call to follow him. The bishop has to see that we are all “fit for purpose”: that we have the administrative and management structures within the curia of the diocese so that the necessary resources are there ready to use to serve the parishes and works of the diocese. This part of the office of a bishop is shared by all those who work for the diocese in the various Departments or Vicariates.

The offices of teaching and ruling are offices that are to be exercised in communion with the Pope and with the other bishops. This means that a bishop may be asked to serve the Holy Father as a member of one of the Congregations (departments) in Rome: a bishop will be part of the local Conference of Bishops and will be asked to cover various parts of the work of the Church nationally and report to the Bishops’ Conference on what he is doing in their name. For example, the Bishop of Salford is currently responsible for liaising on questions concerning prisons and criminal justice. This work takes him to visit prisons, or to London for meetings with chaplains and government officials.

So what does a bishop do all day? The simple answer is: not a lot without the help of the Holy Spirit. And with the Holy Spirit the bishop does all sorts of little things all day, and occasionally something that might be seen as important, but is really the result of the Holy Spirit working through him. So if the bishop is a wise man, he will try to simply let the Holy Spirit work!