By Stephen P. White, The Catholic Thing - The episcopate is changing. Pope Francis’ emphasis on synodality and collegiality are part of this. His reshaping the College of Cardinals to include bishops from the peripheries is another. But perhaps the most significant change is subtler than these: the laity’s expectations for their bishops are changing. Lay deference to clergy – especially bishops – is at a low ebb. Trust has worn thin… Most of this, of course, has to do with the scandals of the past eighteen months. It is hard to imagine a Catholic bishop today enjoying the kind of national prestige and adulation of the sort Theodore McCarrick enjoyed in his heyday, long before his depredations became public.