Bishop Coming to Visit

[Father Bill]

Purely out of interest, why is this particular Sunday different? Because the Boss is coming? Because it’s a special Christian day? Because you feel like a change of attire? Am I missing something?

“The Boss” is one part of the description. It’s subtle. All of us who are priests, technically operate only as substitutes in our churches, during the Bishop’s absence from that church. It is ceremonially improper for a priest, for example, to ‘welcome’ a Bishop, since it is the Bishop’s church. We only express pleasure that the Bishop is able to be in attendance.

There are certain functions limited only to the Bishop - ordinations, blessings of oils and so on. The congregations tend to therefore come out to hear what is said - “from the horse’s mouth” if I may be crude. In the presence of that greater attendance, greater pomp and ceremony are also of interest to many, and as such many in the congregation will turn out to enjoy seeing those functions which are the Bishop’s prerogative, and in the process it does become, in some ways, a social event as well. It becomes much more than a supervisory walk-through.

Subtle differences, but I hope that helps to describe it.