A Proposal for Reintroducing the Election of Bishops by the Community: An Ancient Practice Redux

Coordinated by Dr Luca Badini Confalonieri

Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research, September 2024

Introduction

The following sketch of a possible procedure is inspired by church tradition, the concrete proposal for reintroducing episcopal elections advanced in 1848 by priest, philosopher and theologian Antonio Rosmini, who is now officially Blessed, the current practice of other Christian Churches which elect bishops, including that outlined in the constitution of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus (Καταστατικός Χάρτης της Εκκλησίας Κύπρου, whose canons concerning the election of bishops are summarised here, in automatic English translation from Greek), and the Episcopalian Church in the United States of America. 

Electoral Procedure

● As a preliminary step, a representative diocesan synod should agree diocesan statutes determining the electoral procedure, including:

o the relevant academic, professional, or other training and qualifications required of episcopal candidates/candidates to church leadership;

o the financial resources required to ensure the appropriate running of the elections. It is recommended that an Election Fund be ring-fenced from the diocesan budget for that purpose;

o As an aside, it should be up to the local church to decide whether they want to have usually protected characteristics such as gender, sex, sexual orientation, marital status and so on as criteria for eligibility;

● Starting with the day the episcopal see became vacant, those Catholics who want to put themselves forward as candidates have fourteen days to submit to the diocesan curia their candidacy. The latter must include:

o a short biography highlighting their relevant experience and qualifications, and

o a manifesto outlining their vision for that local church, explaining in particular how they plan on using church resources, including financial resources, to attain that vision.

Candidates (like every other Catholic in the diocese) should have access to the previous year financial accounts of the diocese, and the budget for the current financial year.

● Starting the day after the end of the 14-days period to submit candidacies, a period of forty days will open, devoted to discussing candidates and their visions for the church.
During that crucial period, it is the responsibility of the diocesan curia and the diocesan pastoral council, as well as of each parish (ordinarily through its parish council) to ensure that:

o all diocesan or parish media (websites, newspapers, newsletters, social media, etc.) will publish the candidates’ biographies and the manifestos;

o all relevant diocesan or parish resources are used to encourage as broad a debate as possible concerning the candidates and their manifestos;

o all candidates can participate to at least one husting which will be organised, facilitated, recorded and disseminated by the diocese, with the help of all parishes, using all relevant means. If the number of candidates is too great for a single husting, more can be organised, as needed.

o Anyone who has concerns about any of the candidates is entitled to submit a written objection through the diocesan pastoral council, which shall give a reasoned and irrevocable response no later than five days before the date fixed for the election.

● Starting the Sunday after the end of the period for discussing candidates and their visions for the church, a period of eight days will open – from Sunday to Sunday – where all adult Catholics of the diocese who wish to can cast a vote for their preferred candidate(s), ranking up to three candidates in order of preference.

The procedure should be the so-called Ranked-Choice Voting, also known as instant-runoff voting: if a candidate wins a majority of first-preference votes, he or she is declared the winner. If no candidate wins a majority of first-preference votes, the candidate with the fewest first-preference votes is eliminated. First-preference votes cast for the failed candidate are eliminated, lifting the next-preference choices indicated on those ballots. A new tally is conducted to determine whether any candidate has won a majority of the adjusted votes. The process is repeated until a candidate wins an outright majority.

● The rest is just a matter of copying best practice from civil society, in terms of counting the votes, validating the results, and announcing the candidate preferred by the majority of people under a Ranked-Choice Voting procedure.

● Under ordinarily circumstances, higher ecclesial levels such as the episcopal conference and the Pope would merely ratify the result of the election. In extraordinary circumstances, for example in case of allegations of serious procedural issues, and so on, the diocesan statutes concerning episcopal elections should specify the available appeal procedures.

● The process aims to elect a new bishop within 80 days of the vacancy of the see.

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