What should a bishop be like? Part two of the series . . .waiting for a new bishop

by Father Jerry Meidl

About a month ago, I was in a third grade class at Holy Redeemer school answering questions about how the next bishop will be chosen. In the course of our exchange, I asked them what they thought would be good qualities in a bishop. And one boy said, "I think he should love God. I think he should be nice to people. I think he should care about the poor." I don’t know what you would put on your list of qualifications for our next bishop, but the boy pretty well hit the nail on the head. For in the sample homily in the ritual for the ordination of a bishop this is what it says: "As a father and a brother, love all those whom God places in your care. Love the priests and deacons who share with you the ministry of Christ. Love the poor and infirm, strangers and the homeless. Encourage the faithful to work with you in your apostolic task; listen willingly to what they have to say."

The first quality the boy mentioned was "to love God." I suppose that wouldn’t have been on most of our lists because we would just assume that a bishop would love God. And yet it is not a bad thing to remember, not a bad way to start our list. Loving God denotes a connectedness to God and, therefore, a desire to act like God. The sample homily reminds the bishop not to let his job go to his head when it says, "The title of bishop is one not of honor but of function and, therefore, a bishop should strive to serve rather than rule." This is a gentle reminder that to love God is to want to be like God and to be like God (Jesus) is to be as a servant not a master, to come as one who serves. That is a good quality in a bishop.

The second quality the boy mentioned was "to be nice to people." The sample homily put it this way, "listen willingly to what they (the faithful) have to say," "Being listened to," isn’t that what most of us want, most of us need? A bishop is to listen and hear the needs of his people, his flock. He cannot respond to the needs of his people unless he has listened to them. If his people don’t feel heard, they will not follow where he leads.

The third and final quality the boy mentioned really sounded too mature for his age but was nonetheless profound; a bishop should care about the poor. The sample homily says: "Love the poor and infirm, strangers and the homeless." Like Jesus, the bishop needs to not only know about the poor and the homeless, he is to do something about it. He is to love and care for them. He is to be conscious of their needs and help facilitate others to love and care for them, too.

The third grade boy never read the sample homily for the ordination of a bishop. But somehow he knew the qualities of a good follower of Jesus, a good bishop. To lead like Jesus is to lead with kindness and to lead by example. Who knows, maybe some day that third grader may get to "love God," "be nice to people" and "care about the poor" as a bishop. He already knows the right stuff, maybe some day he will have and be the right stuff to be called a bishop.