San Francisco Province Meeting

Two days after the seminary board meeting I attended the San Francisco Province Meeting at the residence of Archbishop Niederauer. Dioceses are grouped within the universal Church around an archdiocese, forming what is known as a province that is headed by the metropolitan archbishop, which in our case is the Archbishop of San Francisco. The archbishop oversees the affairs of the province, supporting the “suffragan” bishops in charity and brotherly concern. Each of the dioceses in a province is independent and autonomous, which means that no other bishop, including the archbishop, has any jurisdiction within another’s diocese. However, the archbishop has the responsibility of calling the bishops of the province together for regular meetings in which matters relevant to all the dioceses in the province are discussed. These matters could include liturgical norms for the province such as the observance of holy days, financial concerns, common agreements between the dioceses that promote greater unity around important causes, such as church social teaching, identifying possible priest candidates for the episcopacy and other such topics.