BALTIMORE (MD)
National Catholic Reporter
Michael Sean Winters | Nov. 12, 2013 Distinctly Catholic
Fall bishops’ meeting 2013
The election of Archbishop Joseph Kurtz as president of the USCCB was widely expected. But I think everyone was a bit surprised that the election was achieved on the first ballot. It is not easy to get more than 50 percent of the vote in a contest with 10 candidates.
The fact that +Kurtz won a majority so quickly attests to three things. First, the bishops want to return to the practice of allowing a USCCB president three years as veep as a kind of preparation for the post. Second, +Kurtz is not seen as belonging to any party or faction and so is ideally suited to lead a conference that has been dominated in recent years by conservatives and is now grappling with Pope Francis’ call to focus on issues that have a more leftward tilt, at least as they intersect with U.S. politics. Third, +Kurtz is a great guy and almost everyone likes him. Fr. Anthony Chandler, a priest of the archdiocese of Louisville and an old chum of mine, told me, “Archbishop Kurtz is a very genuine person. He works hard to give people the opportunity to share their views. He will work very hard. He keeps an amazing schedule in the archdiocese and gets to meet lots of people.” Sounds like the kind of guy the bishops can live with for the next three years.
The election of Cardinal Daniel DiNardo as vice president is more difficult to read. As I noted before, I have never really gotten a handle on +DiNardo. He is very bright, and he has studied academically and works into his talks lots of references to the Church Fathers, which is a quick way to my heart.
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