BALTIMORE (MD)
National Catholic Reporter
Michael Sean Winters | Nov. 10, 2014 Distinctly Catholic
Team NCR arrived in Baltimore for the USCCB meeting last night and this morning. As I mentioned last week, the agenda appears pretty sleep-inducing, but already, one has the sense that the bishops are not thrilled about the public perception that they are hostile to Pope Francis or, at least, not able to grasp the direction in which he wants to lead the Church or, in any event, not doing much to implement that vision.
I am sure we will hear a lot of prelates blaming this perception that the U.S. bishops are at odds with the pope on the press. It would be a mistake to do so, as blaming the media will only give us in the media the chance to recount all the many instances when bishops have dissed or diminished or otherwise stepped away from what Pope Francis has been saying, at the very least, and with the most generous interpretation, saying things that are not helpful to the goal supporting the pope as he sets a new course for the Church.
The record is not limited to Bishop Thomas Tobin’s and Archbishop Charles Chaput’s recent comments about the synod. There is the USCCB statement about President Barack Obama’s plans for an executive order on nondiscrimination against LGBT Americans, which is neither “welcoming” nor “providing for” fellow human beings. There are the recent statements from Archbishop George Lucas and Bishop Kevin Rhoades about Catholic universities in their dioceses extending health care benefits to same-sex partners of university employees. Again, not welcoming or providing for fellow human beings. There is the relative indifference to the positive aspects of the Affordable Care Act compared to all the time and money spent confronting the HHS contraception mandate. There was the failure of the bishops to even pass a statement on poverty a couple years back. Shall I go on?
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.