The Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium)

Questions to Guide Your Reading

Chapter III: On the Hierarchical Structure of the Church and in Particular on the Episcopate

* NB: The first thing you might want to know is that the word “episcopate” comes from the Greek episkopos, which literally means something like “overseer” (epi = over or above; skopos = to look or watch).  It is the Greek word that corresponds to the English word “bishop.”  So when someone is talking about the “episcopate” or the “episcopacy,” he or she is referring to the bishops, and in the Catholic Church, to the bishops in conjunction with the Pope.

1. For the nurturing and constant growth of the People of God, what did the Lord institute in His Church, according to the Council?

2. What does the Second Vatican Council (following a long tradition within the Church that goes back to its earliest days) teach with regard to the Apostles and their successors?

3. The Council teaches that: “The Lord Jesus, after praying to the Father, calling to Himself those whom He desired, appointed twelve to be with Him, and whom He would send to preach the Kingdom of God; and these apostles He formed after the manner of a college or a stable group, over which He placed Peter chosen from among them. He sent them first to the children of Israel and then to all nations, so that as sharers in His power they might make all peoples His disciples, and sanctify and govern them, and thus spread His Church, and by ministering to it under the guidance of the Lord, direct it all days even to the consummation of the world. And in this mission they were fully confirmed on the day of Pentecost in accordance with the Lord's promise: "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and in Samaria, and even to the very ends of the earth". And the apostles, by preaching the Gospel everywhere, and it being accepted by their hearers under the influence of the Holy Spirit, gather together the universal Church, which the Lord established on the apostles and built upon blessed Peter, their chief, Christ Jesus Himself being the supreme cornerstone.”  How long will this divine mission entrusted by Christ to the apostles last?

4. Just to be sure you’re clear on what the Council is saying, who are the successors to the apostles, to whom the apostles handed on their authority to “bind and loose,” and to teach and preach authoritatively?

5. Who are the assistants of the bishops who assist them in preaching and teaching and shepherding the flock?

6. We also call priests and bishops “ministers.”  Why?  Whose ministry have they been entrusted with?  Who are they making present in the world?

7. The duty and responsibilities entrusted to the bishops is daunting.  Indeed, for human beings, it is undoubtedly impossible.  What does the Second Vatican Council teach about how it becomes possible for mere human beings to discharge duties of this sort?

8. According to the Council, when a bishop is consecrated by the ancient tradition of the laying on of hands by other bishops, this consecration, together with the office of sanctifying, also confers the office of teaching and of governing.  How, however, must this office (and its duties) be exercised?  Can any bishop just decide to teach and/or do whatever he wants?

9. According to the Council, the college or body of bishops has no authority unless it is understood together with what?

10. “Bishops, as successors of the apostles,” says the Council, “receive from the Lord, to whom was given all power in heaven and on earth, the mission to teach all nations and to preach the Gospel to every creature, so that all men may attain to salvation by faith, baptism and the fulfilment of the commandments.”  What did Christ promise to them to help them fulfill this mission?

11. We tend to think of bishops as administrators.  But according to the Council, “Among the principal duties of bishops,” what activity is supposed to occupy “an eminent place”?

12. What response must be shown, according to the Council must be shown to the authentic magisterium (teaching) of the Roman Pontiff (the 0ope), even when he is not speaking ex cathedra (that is, teaching infallibly)?

13. How does one judge the level of certitude or “binding” character of a papal teaching?  How, in other words, does one judge the “mind and will” of the pope in such matters?

14. According to the Council, the Pope can teach infallibly through what is known as an ex cathedra pronouncement.  In the entire history of the Church, there have been no more than eight such pronouncements.  Individual bishops do not have the same prerogative of infallibility as individuals, but they do together as a whole collegial body in two instances.  What are they?  (Hint: One involves the ordinary exercise of their office; the other involves an extraordinary event.)

15. When either the pope or the bishops together with him defines some doctrine with regard to either faith or morals, do they by that act make a new public revelation?  Or are they bound to abide by and be in conformity with the “deposit of faith” revealed in and through Christ and the apostles and handed down through Scripture and tradition?