Upon deeper reflection, I realise that this statement is not
quite accurate.
If we take the Vatican as HQ, then one could easily work out that
the number of HQ staff relative to the entire Church is actually
quite small. The Vatican is fairly lean for a global
organisation.
This works because a lot of decisions are made at the diocesan
level by the bishops, thus removing the need for a large central
bureaucracy to process information. Less information flow, less
corporate overhead.
Based on this model, 'HQ' only 'manage by exception', intervening
when there are problems and issues that are beyond the
power/competence of the bishops to resolve.
The law of the Church is coded in the Codex Iuris Canonici (Code of
Canon Law), and bishops govern their respective dioceses based on
this set of laws. This legal system is closer to the civil law
system we find in Europe, as compared to the common law system that
we find in UK and here.
There are of course other rules and regulations from the Vatican,
and bishops also sometimes promulgate their own.
Within the diocese itself, the priests in each individual parish
also has a free hand in organising and the administration of his
own parish. He is free to set up different 'ministries' to serve
different functions in support of the community life of the parish.
Some of the ministries are part of larger structures (e.g. St.
Vincent de Paul), and these would have some kind of matrix
reporting structure to their national/regional governing
bodies.
Hope this makes the picture clearer.
regards,
obiterdicta
