Furthering the New Evangelization: Consulting the Laity on Candidates for the Episcopacy

Voice of the Faithful
September 3, 2013

http://www.votf.org/Bishops/Furthering_Evangelization_2013.pdf

[letter to the pope]

Voice of the Faithful—whose members are among the most committed Catholics and active members of their parishes1—is promoting the participation of all members of a diocese in recommending candidates for their bishop prior to his appointment by the Pope.

We respectfully request the Holy Father to invite interested Conferences of Catholic Bishops to develop demonstration projects on participation of all the laity and clergy of a diocese in recommending candidates for their bishop. These projects would provide the Holy See with best practices that could be promulgated for use throughout the Church.

Voice of the Faithful proffers this request in hope that it promotes the good of the Church.

It expresses our commitment to be “co-responsible for the being and action of the Church, promoting a mature and dedicated laity.”2 In this way we promote the “new evangelization,” because a warm reciprocal relationship between a bishop and his diocese is indispensable to its success.

We have developed this supporting document for the consideration of the Holy See and the various national Conferences of Bishops. The document includes an overview of the proposal and a rationale for adopting it; namely, consideration of the new evangelization and the bishop, the history and current practice generally followed in selecting and appointing bishops, and the timeliness of expanding the laity’s role in the recommendation process.