10 tips from the Archbishop of the Rose to be a good bishop in the Catholic Church

An 85 -year -old Dominican archbishop offers 10 tips to be a good bishop of the Catholic Church, based on its more than 60 years of priest and more than 36 years of service in the Episcopal Ministry.

Mons. Ramón Benito de la Rosa and Carpio has been auxiliary bishop of Santo Domingo, Bishop of Higüey and Archbishop of Santiago de los Caballeros in the Dominican Republic, between 1989 and 2015, the year in which he retired, although he has remained very active to this day in his evangelizer mission.

In dialogue with ACI Press, the prelate offers 10 tips to be a good Catholic bishop.

1. “Excellence”

The archbishop comments, to begin, that the bishops are told “excellence” or “their excellence” and that, although their task is an “excellent task”, it should be avoided “to believe that one is the maximum, the last or the best.” “We must always keep the sense of humility,” he says.

2. Keep the unity of the Church

The second advice, continues Mons. De la Rosa, is inspired by a teaching that repeatedly listened to his bishop, Mons. Juan Félix Pepén, and also read on several occasions. In one of his reflections, Mons. Pepén asked him: “Ramón, what do you think is the most important thing in a bishop’s task? (…) The most important thing in a bishop’s task is to conserve the unity of the Church. ”

“I noticed at the Conference of the Dominican Episcopate always, since its inception, which has maintained unity, and has been one of its characteristics. There were differences, there were different criteria, but as they expressed in public, they were always criteria that helped all of us in the unit, ”he said.

3. Be a brother

The third advice of the Dominican prelate is based on a famous phrase of St. Augustine: “For you I am a bishop, with you I am a brother.” He explained that he can always occupy both the first position and the last one: the first, for his status as bishop, and the last one, for his vocation as a brother.

4. The priests are “Crown of the Bishop”

The fourth advice of the Dominican prelate is based on a traditional phrase, which is repeated many times in the Church: “Priests are the bishop’s crown”, because “they are important.”

However, he recalled an anecdote with a older French priest, who replied: “Yes, they are the bishop’s crown, but sometimes they are a crown of thorns.” In that sense, Mons. Benito de la Rosa warned that every bishop will face criticism and even envy within the clergy, as happened to Christ. “Oh of us if we think everyone is going to speak well of us!” He added.

5. Listen to priests to make decisions

Mons. De la Rosa also highlights the importance of listening to the priests to make decisions: “I will always remember a priest who told me: ‘We do not make the decision, the decision is always made, but we want you to take into account and consult us.’ I learned that you have to consult. ”

6. The bishop is not an official: he must always have “the open doors”

The prelate indicates that “we must take into account that the bishop is not an official and that, at his schedules, he must always be willing to have the doors open.”

“The priests knew that, at any time they called me, I attended them. If I couldn’t at that time, I told them: ‘I can’t now, but I attend you later,’ and always. I still do it, ”he adds.

7. The bishopric, like the priesthood, “is a call”

The prelate stresses that the episcopate, like the priesthood, is a vocation and not a personal choice. In his words: “That’s why I am not a bishop or pastor because I said ‘I will be a bishop’, but because it is a call made by the Church, a shipment, a mission entrusted by Christ himself.”

8. Being bishop is a gift

The prelate emphasized that the episcopate is a special gift and grace. “Being bishop is a gift, it is a gift. That is why it is an excellent gift, ”he says.

In addition, it emphasizes that, as successors of the apostles, the bishops have the mission of carrying out exorcisms: “The Lord sent us that we could exercise and throw demons and pray for the sick. It is a call and is a gift that always puts itself at the service of others. ”

9. The Bishop is “Priest, Prophet and King”

Mons. De la Rosa recalls that the identity of the bishop is based on what was received from baptism: “The bishop must take into account that he is what they told us already on the day of baptism: he is now a priest, prophet and king. As bishop is still. ”

He explains that, although he exercises these three functions in a higher degree, “in an excellent way,” he should never fall into pride. “The bishop has those three tasks that the laity already have, which he had, but in the superior, supreme degree (…) but without ever falling in that he is the greatest, but what he has are gifts to serve, to attend,” he warns.

10. The bishop’s task

After remembering the good example he received from Cardinal Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez, Archbishop Emeritus of Santo Domingo, the prelate stressed that “the auxiliary bishop has to know that he is auxiliary (…) I knew, that he was a companion of him, an aid and a normal help.”

Then, “in Higüey, I was a residential bishop, and attended all needs, and taking into account, always as I say, look at attention, always say yes, and be able to attend at all times.”

Already as Archbishop of Santiago de los Caballeros, Mons. De la Rosa points out that it was occupied with a mandate that the Church has, that the archbishops must bring together the bishops of their ecclesiastical province. I had six bishops and we met periodically apart from the meetings of the Episcopal Conference. ”

“His trade (that of the archbishop) is not to be a chief but a server for common tasks, for the apostolate, for communion, for unity,” he says.

When talking about his mission as Bishop Emeritus, the Dominican prelate recalls that “he is withdrawn from the administrative function of a diocese, but it is still active and I have learned from the church that when one is a bishop emeritus, retired, he is still alive, he continues to act, he continues to try to do and seek the will of God, but he must have an attitude and work that does not take away the centrality to the resident bishop.”

“A advice for emeritus bishops is, occupies your place, be active: you are no longer the one who has to be the head of the diocese, but to take a second place and work on what the bishop of the place delegates you,” he advises.

Finally, Mons. De la Rosa remarks that “being bishop is a ministry, it is a service, it is a gift, it is a call, and it is necessary to be dignity as God commands.”