UNITED STATES
Crux
By Michael O’Loughlin
National reporter September 19, 2014
When Archbishop Joseph Kurtz was elected president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2012, Spokane’s Bishop Blase Cupich said that the decision reflected the pope’s desire for pastoral leaders. “Pope Francis doesn’t want cultural warriors, he doesn’t want ideologues,” he said.
With reports that Cupich (pronounced “SOUP-itch”), 65, has been tapped as Chicago’s next archbishop, many believe he embodies the pope’s vision for a bishop. Widely viewed as a moderate voice among Catholic bishops, he often eschews cultural battles in favor of dialogue and engagement.
As Catholic bishops fought the Obama Administration’s mandate that employers, including Catholic hospitals, schools, and nonprofits, offer insurance for contraception, Cupich offered a conciliatory approach, supporting the cause but calling for dialogue and compromise.
He lamented policies that gave government the power to “decide what it means for any church to be church and what defines the permissible exercise of religion,” but chastised those church leaders who threatened to shutter social services rather than comply with the mandate.
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