US bishops meeting to debate sex abuse crisis, accountability

La Croix International
November 12, 2018

https://bit.ly/2K32472

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will gather for the 2018 Fall General Assembly in Baltimore today when top of the agenda will be the sex abuse crisis and accountability for bishops.

The Nov. 12-14 meeting will also include some other agenda items, such as a statement on racism and election of chairmen for several committees.

The assembly will begin with addresses by Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, who is president of the USCCB, and by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, papal nuncio to the United States. The nuncio met privately with Pope Francis this past Saturday at the Vatican.

During the assembly, the bishops will discuss and vote on a series of concrete measures to respond to the abuse crisis, including those approved for the agenda at the September meeting of the administrative committee, such as a third-party reporting mechanism, standards of conduct for bishops, and protocols for bishops resigned or removed because of abuse, according to an Oct. 30 news release from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The bishops will then adjourn to an on-site chapel for a full day of spiritual discernment and prayer. This will be followed by a Mass celebrated Monday evening at the site of the assembly.

Public sessions of the assembly will be livestreamed, live tweeted and carried via satellite, it said.

Cardinal DiNardo, in his Oct. 26 letter to all U.S. bishops, asked them to spend seven days before the meeting, from Nov. 5-11, in “intensified” prayer, fasting and reparation to prepare for their general assembly in Baltimore.

During their business sessions, the U.S. bishops will discuss and vote on concrete measures to respond to sex abuse, including those approved for their agenda at the September meeting of the administrative committee.

The administrative committee, which consists of officers, chairmen and regional representatives of the USCCB, meets in March and September and is the highest authority of the USCCB outside the full body of bishops.

The bishops during their Baltimore meeting will hear reports from the National Advisory Council and National Review Board and vote on a proposed pastoral on racism titled “Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love—A Pastoral Letter Against Racism.”

“Despite many promising strides made in our country, the ugly cancer of racism still infects our nation,” the proposed document says. “Racist acts are sinful because they violate justice. They reveal a failure to acknowledge the human dignity of the persons offended, to recognize them as the neighbors Christ calls us to love.”

The bishops will also hear a report on the recently concluded 15th Ordinary Synod of Bishops assembly on Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment.

The bishops will also vote for a conference treasurer-elect, new chairmen of the Committee on Catholic Education and new chairmen-elect of the following five USCCB committees: Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations, Committee on Divine Worship, Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth, and the Committee on Migration, the statement said.

Also on the agenda will be a voice vote to endorse the sainthood cause of Sister Thea Bowman, the granddaughter of slaves and the only African-American member of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration.

Public sessions of the discussions and votes during the general assembly as well as portions of the day of spiritual discernment will be available via livestream here.