UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter
Michael Sean Winters | Oct. 21, 2013
The USCCB has announced the 10 candidates for presidency and vice presidency of the conference. The president is elected from these 10 nominees, and the vice president is elected from the remaining nine. Here are the candidates:
Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans
Archbishop Charles Chaput, OFM Cap., of Philadelphia
Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Wash.
Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston
Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles
Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Ky.
Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore
Archbishop Dennis Schnurr of Cincinnati
Archbishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit
Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami
It is an interesting list. The most obvious thing about it is the name that is not there: Cardinal Sean O’Malley, OFM Cap, who has become Pope Francis’ “go-to” guy in the U.S. The work of the Council of Cardinals advising Pope Francis is time consuming and, in the event, more vital than anything that will be happening at the USCCB for the next three years, so O’Malley was smart to decline nomination.
Smart money says Kurtz is more or less a lock for the presidency. He is currently the VP at the USCCB, and he does not belong to any ideological camp. His early years doing social justice ministry as a priest in Allentown, Pa., shaped his understanding of the church in ways that would be simpatico with the vision of Pope Francis. And perhaps most importantly, he is well liked by his brother bishops. That means the real contest will be for the vice presidency.
It is interesting to see both Chaput and Lori on the list. They both represent the same “culture warrior” wing of the conference. I cannot imagine that the USCCB will select Chaput after his comments about Pope Francis, reprinting emails he got from people who feel “betrayed” by Pope Francis. And I suspect enough bishops feel that the religious liberty train has gone far enough down the tracks that they will not award the VP post to Lori. Vigneron, less of a culture warrior but decidedly in the conservative camp, led the ad hoc committee to draft a letter on poverty that failed on a floor vote last year, one of the conference’s most embarrassing moments in recent years. When you have the Gospels as primary source material, it is appalling that the ad hoc committee could not draft a statement on poverty capable of earning the support of the full body of bishops. As well, all three of these men suffer from being East Coast bishops, and the Church’s leadership needs to reflect the growing churches of the South and West.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.