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To: Timaeus
Dear Timaeus,

“But you still haven't established anything other than administrative scope.”

In churches with significant hierarchies, “senior cleric” refers to where you are in the organizational chart.

As an example, in the Catholic Church, a parish priest isn't a senior cleric. Even the dean of a deanery isn't quite a senior cleric. Maybe an auxiliary bishop. Certainly the ordinary of a see is a senior cleric.

If you're talking about the local, independent Bible church down the road, or an independent megachurch, then “senior pastor” might apply to someone at the congregation level.

But for ecclesial communities with significant formal hierarchies, “senior cleric” means someone not at the bottom rung of the hierarchical ladder.

No matter how long he might have served, no matter how revered he might be, no matter how old he is, no matter how much seniority he may have, even if in some cases he is referred to as a "senior priest," the local parish priest who is just a parish priest isn't going to be called a “senior cleric.” LOL.

In ecclesial communities that aren't as hierarchical, I guess anything goes. I'm Catholic, so my experience is with the Catholic Church. The LDS church is also a hierarchical ecclesial community, and in that way, is more analogous to the Catholic Church than to, say, an independent Bible church.

You still haven't established why an LDS ward bishop, presiding at the lowest organizational level, is somehow a “senior cleric” of the LDS church.


sitetest

336 posted on 02/03/2012 2:52:19 PM PST by sitetest (If Roe is not overturned, no unborn child will ever be protected in law.)
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To: sitetest
You still haven't established why an LDS ward bishop, presiding at the lowest organizational level, is somehow a “senior cleric” of the LDS church.
Well, yes, of course, because I tend not to try to establish the claims that exist only in the muddled heads of my less gifted interlocutors, or less talented trolls in this case. I said Romney is a senior cleric, which he is as he served his term. So unless you're trying to hold me accountable for some risible misinterpretation of the term "senior" you're still just blasting hot gas for no other reason then you're unemployed and have nothing better to do then troll random social news sites.
337 posted on 02/03/2012 3:31:19 PM PST by Timaeus (Willard Mitt Romney Delenda Est)
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