Bp. O’Donnell retires in Lafayette
The Most Rev. Edward O’Donnell, bishop of Lafayette (Louisiana), burdened with health troubles at the age of 71, has resigned his office and announced the appointment of his successor, the Most Rev. Michael Jarrell, at present bishop of Houma-Thibodaux.
For most writers in Catholic blogdom, Bp. O’Donnell’s most notable mark on the world was a dubious one as a censor of Catholic literature. He caved in to the demands of uninformed protestors and banned Flannery O’Connor’s writings from his schools because some of her characters used racially offensive words. He silenced Fr. Bryce Sibley’s witty blog for six months after a complaint from some offended seminary apparatchik. I’m sure the bishop has many good qualities, but from the outside, he didn’t appear to be a Profile in Courage. In any case, he’s stepping down now, which is a good enough penance for dissing Flannery O’Connor; I wish Bp. O’Donnell a happy and holy retirement.
A detail about the new bishop leads me to pose a question for my canonist co-blogger:
Hey, Pete, Is Pope JP II giving bishops the third degree?
It sounds like a good idea, doesn’t it? Perhaps a new approach for getting to the root of the abuse scandals?
But, no, the “third degree” I’m asking about is not an interrogation in the manner of Monty Python‘s cardinals, but an academic doctorate. The Houma diocese’s biographical note on Bp. Jarrell says:
A native of Opelousas, LA, Bishop Michael Jarrell was born May 15, 1940. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy (1962) and a Master of Arts in Philosophy (1963) both from Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. He has been granted a Doctor of Divinity degree by Pope John Paul II. Bishop Jarrell was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Lafayette in 1967. He was appointed Second Bishop of Houma-Thibodaux on Dec. 29, 1992. His ordination to the episcopacy and installation took place March 4, 1993.
How is it that Pope John Paul confers degrees on bishops, and why the Doctor of Divinity?
Is the degree in some sense honorary? Here in the States, that particular degree seems to be granted mostly by Protestant div schools, so when a bishop carries it, the effect is only a slight honor, as if to say : here’s a bishop who does not have one of the well-known degrees in theology (STD), canon law (JCD), or a civilly-recognized degree (PhD).
Is it granted in order to make the bishop comply with canon 378? That provision requires that a suitable candidate for the order of bishops must
hold a doctorate or at least a licentiate in sacred Scripture, theology or canon law, from an institute of higher studies approved by the Apostolic See, or at least be well versed in these disciplines.
I hope somebody knowledgeable will clear up this mystery soon, before anti-Catholics begin to reproach the Pope as running a diploma mill like that of Frederick Buechner’s character Leo Bebb.