What The Heck is a Catholic Titular See?

You truly learn something new every day.

I noted earlier today the new Bishops that were appointed by the Pope. A couple of this appointments were Bishops to where they are the main guy in charge. In fact they are the only Bishop. Today we saw that as to Bishop-elect Anthony Basil Taylor of the Diocese of Little Rock and Bishop Richard Edmund Pates of the Diocese of Des Moines.

However we also had three Auxiliary Bishops appointed. Now as I noted I have no idea what they do in real terms. They help out the Bishop or often the Archbishop and I guess they do what he wants. Again I am not sure because I never lived in a big enough Catholic area to have the pleasure of such a Catholic creature. However they are real Bishops and not "almost Bishops"

Today we learn:

That Bishop-elect Oscar Cantú was named an Auxiliary Bishop of San Antonio Texas, USA and titular bishop of Dardanus..

That Bishop-elect James Douglas Conleywas named Auxiliary Bishop of Denver, Colorado, USAand titular bishop of Cissa.

Also that Bishop-elect William J. Justice was named an Auxiliary Bishop of San Francisco, California, USA and titular bishop of Mathara in Proconsulari.

Mathara in Proconsulari? What is that? Wel they existed at one time and I guess they still exist in Vatican land.

We see in the Wilki entry on this topic:
A titular see in the Roman Catholic Church is a Diocese or Archdiocese that now exists in title only. It is led by a titular bishop or Archbishop, a bishop who is not a diocesan ordinary but either an official of the Holy See, an auxiliary bishop or the head of a jurisdiction that is equivalent to a diocese under canon law. Bishops who do not have proper authority over an existing diocese are normally given a titular see by the Pope. At one time coadjutor bishops and archbishops were given titular sees — however now they are given title to the diocese or archdiocese that they will oversee as coadjutor. Retired Bishops and Archbishops were also given titular sees, however the common practice now is to name them Bishop or Archbishop Emeritus of the see they retired from.
The Roman Curia maintains a regular position on titular sees. It states, "It is the custom of the apostolic see to confer on these bishops the title of one of those churches which in days past flourished with the splendor of virtue and the progress of religion, even though as a result of the changes and ravages of time they may now have lost their ancient resplendent glory." While the Vatican hopes that titular sees will one day become active dioceses once again, it realizes in most cases the chances of that happening are low.

So in modern terms think of the example of unless we stop population drain and stop Coastal erosion The Archdiocese of New Orleans might be a Titular See in 2050!!!

For a list of these Sees go here. I have no idea how a certain Titular See is chosen for a certain Bishop.

The Georgia Catholic paper has a nice short article here called History Of Titular Bishops