NEW ORLEANS (LA)
National Catholic Reporter
Joshua J. McElwee Brian Roewe | Jun. 13, 2014
NEW ORLEANS
A key question for the nation’s Catholic bishops, says their president: How can they encourage one another in their ministry while respecting different leadership roles?
Louisville, Ky., Archbishop Joseph Kurtz said he is examining, “What does it mean for us to be instruments of encouragement to one another as bishops?”
“I think the conference is not meant to take the place of leadership of bishops, it’s meant to support that leadership,” said Kurtz, who was elected to lead the U.S. bishops’ conference last November and is serving a three year term.
“Just as a bishop’s leadership in a diocese is not meant to take the place of the leadership of the baptized faithful and the priests who are serving — but it’s meant to inspire and be a catalyst,” he continued.
Kurtz was speaking in an NCR interview Thursday at the end of the bishops’ spring plenary assembly, held in New Orleans this week. The assembly, which saw the bishops on Wednesday address 17 issues at breakneck pace before listening to a series of speakers on Thursday, wrapped up Friday morning with prayer.
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