I saw a very interesting article today that described two different types of Episcopal Authority. One is "de lure", or legal authority that is given to a bishop by virtue of his "office". In the civil world this would be similar to the authority given to a police officer. A man with a badge has a certain amount of authority given to him/her by the municipality...a man with a miter has a similar type of authority, given by the church.

The other type is "de facto" authority which does not presume any "office" but is based on the personal charism or moral authority the an individual may possess. Mother Theresa and Dorothy Day were two great examples of individuals who exercised this authority in the church.

While it is possible for a Bishop to exercise both types of authority, we unfortunately seem to have too few Bishops who possess or display any type of personal charism. They are good at reading the rule book to you but not great at building a sense of love and loyalty among their flocks.

Maybe this explains why some 22 million people who were raised Catholic no longer consider themselves Catholic. The second largest Christian denomination in America is made up of "former Catholics". Sad isn't it?