I had a meeting this morning to try and determine which of the various dossiers I currently manage I am going to have to drop/transfer to someone else once I am ordained a bishop, because I am already pretty busy and I can’t just take more on without giving up something. The process of taking on new tasks has already started, mind you: I recently received a letter informing me I have been appointed as a member of the College of Consultors for the Archdiocese of Montreal.
What, you may ask, is the College of Consultors? Every diocese has a Council of Priests (a.k.a. the Presbyteral Council), whose members are elected by the priests themselves, or who are automatically members of the Council because of the job they have. As an auxiliary bishop I am in the latter category. Then, from among the members of the Council there is a smaller group, picked by the diocesan bishop, who constitute the College of Consultors. This is a stable body which the diocesan bishop *must* consult on certain matters, usually related to finances. Should something happen to the diocesan bishop (e.g. he dies suddenly), the College can also elect a diocesan administator to govern until a diocesan bishop is appointed (and, I should note, a diocesan administrator has to get the approval of the College for even more situations than the diocesan bishop does).
I don’t know how much work this new job is going to involve — probably not a lot. Still, I can see I am going to have to bone up on canon law, particularly the part about the approval process for major transactions, as well as what needs to happen in the event we find ourselves without a diocesan bishop.