Metropolitan 

     The ‘metropolitan’ refers to the principal city or see of an ecclesiastical province (i.e. province drawn up by Rome). It has a more prominent position over other sees (called ‘suffragan sees’) in the region. 

     The head of a metropolitan is usually called ‘Archbishop’. The Archbishop is the head of the Archdiocese only. He does not have any authority over the other sees (dioceses) in the metropolitan nor is he vested with more power than the other bishops in the region – every diocese is autonomous. However, the Archbishop takes precedence over the other bishops in this region in the ranking of the hierarchy. 

     Kuching is a Metropolitan See. All the other dioceses in Sabah and Sarawak (i.e. Sibu, Miri, Kota Kinabalu and Keningau) belong to the Kuching Metropolitan. 

Crosier

     The crosier is the pastoral staff. It is a symbol of the pastoral ministry of a bishop/archbishop.

 
Cathedra

     The cathedra is the chair or seat of a bishop/archbishop. It is placed in his church (main church in the diocese/archdiocese), and this church (which houses the cathedra) is thus referred to as a ‘cathedral’. Only the bishop/archbishop can sit on the cathedra – he presides at solemn functions on the cathedra. 

     During the recent installation ceremony, Archbishop Emeritus Peter Chung passed the crosier on to Archbishop John Ha. This symbolised the passing over of pastoral responsibility of the Archdiocese from the Archbishop Emeritus to the new Archbishop.

    The Archbishop Emeritus then led Archbishop John Ha to sit on the cathedra for the first time. This signified that the new Archbishop had officially taken authority over the Archdiocese.