Church of Vale

The Church of Vale (Valois: Église valoise) is the officially established Manitism church in Vale and the Mother Church of the galactical Manitism community.

Primates
The Church's hierarchy is headed by the Bishop of Villevielle, known as the Matriarch (Valois: Matrone), who is the leader of the worldwide Church of Vale. The current Matriarch is Laurence, elected on 14 June 1704 by the College of Cardinals. The office of the Matriarch is known as the Matriarchy. The Church holds that Gaïa instituted the Matriarchy. For advice and assistance in governing, the matriarch may turn to the College of Cardinals.

Cardinals
Cardinals are princes of the Church of Vale appointed by the Primate. She generally chooses female bishops who head departments of the Curia or important episcopal sees throughout Vale or Kobol. As a whole, the cardinals comprise the College of Cardinals which advises the Primate, and those cardinals under the age of 70 at the death or resignation of a Primate elect her successor.

Diocesan bishops
The process of appointing diocesan bishops is complex and is handled by the College of Cardinals which submits names to the Primate of the Church of Vale for consideration.

Representative bodies
The Church of Vale has a legislative body, the Synod. Synod can create two types of legislation, measures and canons. Canons require Primate Assent, but form the law of the church, rather than the law of the land. Another assembly is the Convocation of the Clergy (older than the Synod and its predecessor the Church Assembly). There are also diocesan synods and deanery synods.