Bishop open for discussion regarding plenary council
By RENEE WEBB
Globe associate editor
Posted August 15, 2002

Bishop Daniel N. DiNardo was one of eight bishops to sign a letter asking their fellow prelates to consider discussing the merits of convoking a national plenary council.

"There was a bishop or two that prepared this proposal to discuss the possibility of a plenary council," noted Bishop DiNardo. "One of the two bishops knows me well."

While Bishop DiNardo acknowledged that he had some initial reservations, eventually he agreed to sign the letter because it requested discussion of a plenary council. The bishop sees value in talking about it. In the letter, Auxiliary Bishop Allen H. Vigneron of Detroit and Bishop Robert C. Morlino of Helena, Mont. outlined what the proposed plenary council would do and some of the pros and cons.

"Those of us who signed the letter obviously know each other on some level, but there is no ideological persuasion behind any of us other than we thought it would be great to suggest a possible theme of discussion for the bishops' November meeting," he said.

Others signing the letter were Archbishop Daniel A. Cronin of Hartford, Conn.; Archbishop James P. Keleher of Kansas City, Kan.; Archbishop Oscar H. Lipscomb of Mobile, Ala.; Archbishop John G. Vlazny of Portland, Ore.; and Bishop Raymond Burke of La Crosse, Wis.

"The letter is an open-ended invitation for bishops to discuss if this would be a proper time to call a more solemn meeting, a plenary council, to allow bishops the theological reflection and time to teach on issues of the church," said Bishop DiNardo. "For us the catalyst for this was the sexual abuse crisis but our point behind the plenary council is not so much to talk about that but to talk about the priesthood and the call to holiness in the church and how priests play a role in it."

The bishop pointed out that the last plenary council of the Catholic Church in the United States was held in 1884. The Third Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1884 led to the development of the Baltimore Catechism.

A plenary council, the bishop noted, would allow the prelates more time for theological reflection on the issue of holiness of the human person, the teaching of the church on the priesthood and formation of priests both before and after ordination.

"Plenary councils are done in communion with Rome who would approve the agenda should we decide to go ahead with it," explained Bishop DiNardo. "They also have to approve of the very fact of doing one. We have a long history of plenary councils in the Catholic Church throughout the world."

The bishop said these meetings are held in regions - this case the region is the United States. St. Augustine attended one famous series of plenary proceedings that took place among the bishops in North Africa in the years 412-417.

The Code of Canon Law states that a plenary council is to be celebrated whenever it seems necessary or useful to the conference of bishops, with the approval of the Apostolic See. It is up to the bishops' conference to convoke such a council, to decide where it is to be held and to select a president, subject to Vatican approval.

A plenary council could last a week or longer or possibly be held in a few different sessions.

"The proceedings of the plenary council and any decisions that it would make would then go to Rome for final approval," said Bishop DiNardo.