Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli

In Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet fall in love. Coming from two warring families, these two “star-cross’d” lovers are doomed from the start. In the famous balcony scene, Juliet tells Romeo, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.” This one brief line captures the tragedy of the entire play.

In this famous quote from Shakespeare, Juliet is arguing that, even though Romeo bears the surname of her own family’s rivals, it signifies nothing. Names are mere conventions. They are artificial, without meaning. But, this is not exactly true.

Words conjure up images, produce sounds and explain realities. Take words like sizzle or splash, for example; or hiss or glitter. When it comes to the reality of our being a faith community, the two commonly used words “diocese” and “church” do have specific meanings. They express something of the mystery of who we are as believers in Christ.

The first word “diocese” comes from the Greek word that originally meant the management of a household. In ecclesiastical usage, it came to mean very early on the administration or the governing of a particular territory by a local bishop. The first Christian communities followed the pattern set by the Jews. They established their congregations in cities where people would gather to celebrate the Eucharist and the other sacraments. As the Church grew and spread, it became practical in the third century to place major cities with their surrounding villages and towns under the care of one bishop. Thus, St. Ignatius was Bishop of Antioch, and St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna.

Canon law defines a diocese as “a portion of the people of God which is entrusted to a bishop, to be nurtured by him with the cooperation of the presbyterate….” (Canon 369). The apostles appointed directly by Christ himself to teach, sanctify and govern the faithful had universal pastoral authority. The bishops, their successors, have an apostolic mandate to care for the limited territory entrusted to them. Originally, dioceses were established by the bishops of a province. But, by the 11th century, in order to ensure unity, the Bishop of Rome reserved this right to himself.

Each diocese under the care of the bishop, “and gathered by him through the Gospel and Eucharist in the Holy Spirit… constitutes a particular Church...”(Canon 369). The second word, therefore, that expresses the reality of who we are as God’s people is the word “church.” The word “church” comes from the Greek word ekklesia that means a convocation or an assembly. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew equivalent of this word, qahal, refers to the Chosen People coming together to worship God. The first Christians used this word to show that they were heirs to God’s Chosen People who assembled at Mt. Sinai to receive his law and become his holy people.

The English word “church” translates the Greek ekklesia. It derives from the Greek word kyriake (Kirche, in German) and means “belonging to the Lord.” Truly those who believe in Jesus and assembled together under their bishop to celebrate the sacraments belong to the Lord.

Thus, every diocese is actually an autonomous Church. And in each diocese as a particular Church, “the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church of Christ exists and functions” (Canon 369). In the canon of every Mass, the Pope is prayed for and so is the bishop of the diocese where the Mass is being celebrated. This expresses the unity of the Universal Church, made up of all the particular Churches throughout the world who are in union with the Pope. As the Bishop of Rome and successor to Peter, the Pope is appointed by God to hold the Church together in unity and charity.

In a word, the Church is the people throughout the whole world whom God gathers to himself in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Church “exists in local communities and is made real as a liturgical, above all a Eucharistic, assembly. She draws her life from the Word and the Body of Christ and so herself becomes Christ’s Body” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 752). She is the very sign and instrument that God himself has established for our salvation.

As Christ her founder is both human and divine, so is the Church. As a human institution, she is organized administratively into different dioceses. Each diocese or particular Church is made up of fallible and weak individuals who sin and fail. But, the Church is more than its members. As a divine institution, the Church is the very communion of men, women and children with God. The Church transcends time and space. All the blessed in heaven, the souls in purgatory and all the faithful on earth belong to this communion of life with God. What a gift! What a grace! St. Bernard of Clairvaux beautifully expressed the divine and human mystery of the Church in these words:

Faithfully belonging to the Church is God’s way for us to come to him.