We will soon
have something NEW in Austin that we have never had before! And that is an
Auxiliary Bishop. Fr. Danny Garcia, formerly pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Parish
in North Austin and currently the Vicar General of the Diocese of Austin, will
be ordained a bishop on Tuesday, March 3 in the afternoon. The episcopal
ordination (meaning the ordination of a bishop, NOT that Fr. Garcia will be an
Episcopalian) will be celebrated at St. William’s Church in Round Rock. Because
of the expected large turnout it is a ticketed affair, so unless you have a
ticket, don’t plan on attending.
Since this is a
new thing for us here in Austin, I thought I would give an overview of
auxiliary bishops. Auxiliary Bishops are helper bishops. Bishop Joe Vásquez
will still be our spiritual shepherd. He is what is known as the Ordinary. A
good case can be made that Bishop Joe is truly extraordinary in many ways, but
technically he is the Ordinary, which means he is in charge. That will not
change.
But now, rather
than have to do all “bishop things” in this diocese by himself, Bishop Vásquez
will have the assistance of Bishop Danny Garcia. Mostly that will involve
celebrating Confirmations and Ordinations, as well as the duties already done
as Vicar General. Many dioceses have auxiliary bishops, and I believe it is
long overdue for the Diocese of Austin to have at least one. I was stationed in
the Archdiocese of San Francisco for 8 years, and they have two auxiliary bishops. But the
Archdiocese of S.F. covers a mere FOUR counties, while the Diocese of Austin
covers over 24 counties – a much
larger area. In addition, according to the 2012 Official Catholic Directory (the last year we have purchased, we can’t
afford it every year) San Francisco had FEWER Catholics than the Diocese of
Austin: only 433,163 compared to 518,940, and I am sure the disparity has grown
since 2012. So it is overdue for Bishop Joe to get some episcopal help. Pope
Francis is the one who decided it was now time for us to have an Auxiliary
Bishop, and I for one am glad he did.
However, Auxiliary
Bishops are something of an anomaly. The
Catechism of the Catholic Church never mentions them. The ancient ideal was
that the bishop was in a sense the “spouse” of the church where he was bishop. Having
several bishops in single see (i.e., diocese or archdiocese) is sort of the
spiritual equivalent of polyandry (one wife with several husbands). In the
ancient church this idea of the bishop as married to his local church also
caused problems when a bishop transferred from one diocese to another. Partly
for this reason, Auxiliary Bishops are named as Titular Bishops of some long
abandoned and forgotten place that at one time had a bishop. These places often
are in North Africa, where there was a Christian community in the 5th
century with a bishop that was overran by Vandals or by Moslems (or both) at
some time. So for example the two auxiliaries in San Francisco are the Titular
Bishops of Proconsulari and of Gemellae in Byzacena, towns that probably do not
now exist and have not been in business for millennia or more. I do not know
yet what phantom diocese of which Fr. Danny Garcia gets to be the Titular
Bishop. It will be interesting to see which “see” he has (sorry). In Catholic
thought you have to be Bishop of someplace – you can’t be a “free-range”
Bishop.
Anyway, I ask
you to pray for Bishop-elect Danny Garcia. We are a growing Catholic community,
and for the first time ever have an Auxiliary Bishop assigned to Austin.
God bless,
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