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How to Cover the Catholic Church
delict.
The church term for a crime. Church crimes are spelled out in the
Code of Canon Law
for the Latin rite and in the
Code of Canons of the Eastern
Churches
for Eastern Catholic churches.
diaconate.
See
deacon
,
diaconate
.
dicastery.
A church term for one of the major departments of the Roman
Curia—the Secretariat of State, Vatican congregations, tribunals, pontifical
councils and a few other departments. The term does not appear with this
definition in most English dictionaries, which is part of the reason it is listed
here. It ordinarily does not come into play in news coverage of the Vatican,
but it may do so in certain limited contexts. Generally, it is more appropriate
to refer to a Vatican dicastery by its more specific proper name: congregation,
pontifical council, etc.
diocesan bishop.
A bishop who heads a diocese. He may be assisted by aux-
iliary bishops or a coadjutor bishop (see
auxiliary bishop
and
coadjutor
).
Also sometimes referred to as a
residential bishop
.
diocesan curia.
The personnel and offices assisting the bishop in directing the
pastoral activity, administration and exercise of judicial power of a diocese.
diocese.
A particular church; the ordinary territorial division of the church
headed by a bishop. The chief diocese of a group of dioceses is called an
arch-
diocese
; see that entry.
Adj
.
diocesan
.
Eastern Catholic churches.
The Catholic churches with origins in Eastern
Europe, Asia and Africa that have their own distinctive liturgical, legal and
organizational systems and are identified by the national or ethnic character
of their region of origin. Each is considered fully equal to the Latin tradition
within the church. In the United States there are 15 Eastern church dioceses
and two Eastern church archdioceses. In addition, there is one non-territorial
Eastern church apostolate in the United States whose bishop is a member of
the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. See
archeparchy
and
eparchy
.
eparchy.
Eastern Catholic equivalent to a
diocese
in the Latin Church. It is
under the pastoral care of an
eparch
(bishop). Unless some legal distinction
between a Latin rite diocese and an Eastern Church eparchy is relevant to a
news report, in most cases it is appropriate to refer to an eparchy as a diocese
and to its leader as a bishop.
Adj.
eparchial
. See
archeparchy
.