The U. S. bishops gathered in Baltimore for their annual fall meeting Nov. 14-17| Katie Yoder/CNA
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The U. S. Catholic bishops U. S. citizens have returned to their dioceses after assembly week in Baltimore for their annual fall assembly.
The following is a summary of the key movements taken at the fall plenary assembly of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB):
1. Elected Bishop Timothy Broglio as president.
Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese of Military Services, United States, has been elected president of the USCCB for a three-year term, replacing Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles. Vatican in Ivory Coast, Paraguay, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Rome from 1990 to 2001. As Archbishop for the U. S. Military Services, since 2008, he has championed devout freedom for service men and women when he called for a devout exemption for the COVID vaccine mandate and raised concerns about religious freedom issues related to allowing homosexuals to serve in the military.
2. The Archbishop of Baltimore, William Lori, elected vice president.
The newly elected vice president, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, is a strong advocate for the unborn. In her role on the bishops’ pro-life committee, Lori has spoken out in favor of helping pregnant women and opposed the Biden administration’s proposals to expand the availability of abortion. He has been a strong supporter of the bishops’ Walking with Moms in Need 2020 initiative to help struggling pregnant women, moms and toddlers.
Lori has been the ideal chaplain for the Knights of Columbus since 2005 and joined the Knights last month on a trip to Poland and Ukraine to distribute aid. At 71, he will not be eligible for president when Broglio’s term expires in 3 years, as the conference charter states. It stipulates that the President shall not be more than 75 years of age at the end of his term. This is the consecutive moment the bishops have chosen to install a vice president who cannot be considered an obvious heir to the presidency. Lori succeeds Bishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit, 74, who was elected vice president in 2019.
3. In an emotional farewell address, Archbishop Jose Gomez spoke about bishops to be missionaries in a secular culture in search of meaning.
In a moving address, outgoing USCCB President Bishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles told the assembled bishops that a secularized society has gone astray but is experiencing a “spiritual awakening” and a longing for meaning. He called on all Catholics to evangelize and bishops in particular to share their private encounters with Jesus in the Eucharist as part of the upcoming Eucharistic renewal. “The church exists to evangelize,” Gomez said. There is no other explanation of why for the church. To be a Christian is to be a missionary disciple. Its full copy can be read here.
4. Bishops should begin rewriting their Catholic voting consultant after the 2024 election.
The bishops voted to postpone the publication of a comprehensive review of “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” a sort of electoral consultant for Catholics, until after the 2024 election. The “pedagogical document” states that abortion deserves to be “the preeminent political issue. “” for Catholics. By deciding to leave the document as it is, while adding a new advent and more insertions, the bishops reaffirm their opposition to pro-abortion policies in the political realm. The additional documents, however, can introduce new languages, said Bishop Paul Coakley, head of the bishops’ committee on domestic justice and human development.
“Whether it’s a global war in Ukraine, other people’s questioning of our democratic system, or anything else, we want to provide some kind of guidance on a number of issues,” he said. You may be offering to other people and applying the training in a way that makes sense to them. “
5. The bishops expressed their interest in Ukraine.
The bishops gave a standing ovation after an impassioned speech on the war opposing Russia through Ukrainian Catholic Archbishop Borys Gudziak. Raising the option of a Republican majority in the House of Representatives reneging on the nation’s commitment to the war effort in Ukraine, McElroy called on the bishops to act to ensure the continuity of U. S. military assistance. U. S. In his address, Gudziak thanked the U. S. bishops for the U. S. bishops. U. S. and Catholics for their continued monetary aid for humanitarian aid.
6. The bishops elected an unwavering supporter of the pro-committee.
The election of Bishop Michael Burbidge, a staunch pro-life advocate, to head the USCCB’s pro-life committee is another sign that the bishops’ defense of the unborn child has not weakened despite the failure of pro-life programs over the medium term. measurement.
7. The bishops have reduced the budget of the Eucharistic Congress by 3 days.
Plans for the Eucharistic Renewal and Eucharistic Congress were unveiled with the announcement that the cost of the three-day occasion would be reduced from $28 million to $14 million with the help of donors and sponsors. Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, who is leading the Eucharistic Revival Initiative, an effort to rekindle understanding and love for Jesus in the Eucharist among Catholics, said another 80,000 people are expected to make a pilgrimage to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, where the conference will take place starting July 17, 2024. Pilgrims will depart from 4 other places, he said: one in the diocese of Brownsville, Texas; in the Archdiocese of Hartford, Connecticut, at the site of the tomb of Blessed Michael McGivney, founder of the Knights of Columbus; in San Francisco in the Cathedral of Santa María de la Asunción; and a fourth site in Crookston.
8. The bishops approved a prayer book for lay people who care for the sick.
The bishops voted to go ahead with the creation of a new prayer eeebook for other lay people running among the sick. Father Andrew Menke, executive director of the Secretariat for Divine Worship of the U. S. bishops. The U. S. Department of Health Administration told CNA that he hopes the new prospective prayer eeebook will be useful in helping other lay people who wish to care for the sick. “A pastor can put this eeebook in the hands of other people who help him make a stopover in nursing homes, hospitals and places where there is no priest-chaplain every day, however, there is possibly a layman there,” Menke said.
9. The bishops voted to promote the reasons for the holiness of 3 American women.
The U. S. bishops must advance at the local level the reasons for beatification and canonization of the Servants of God Cora Louise Evans, a converted Catholic mother considered a mystic; Michelle Duppong, a young campus missionary who battled cancer; and Mother Margaret Mary Healy-Murphy, a nun who cared for the handicapped and the African-American community.
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