UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter
Joshua J. McElwee | Nov. 6, 2013
WASHINGTON On an otherwise dull agenda for the fall assembly of the American hierarchy, one item has been the subject of much discussion inside and outside the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Following a three-year presidency of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the bishops are set to elect a new chief and a spate of other leaders.
The discussion question is basic: Who’s going to lead this group?
More to the point: Will the new conference leadership maintain the status quo, allowing the conference to be, in the words of one former staffer, “defined by what they oppose”? Or will the leadership, in the words of a former conference president, “embrace the tone and the style of Pope Francis”?
Or, in the words of another former staffer, will the new leadership embrace dialogue and collaboration, or will it “hunker down and preserve and protect”?
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