UNITED STATES
America Magazine
Nov 17 2015
Dennis Sadowski – Catholic News Service
The U.S. bishops Nov. 17 elected Msgr. J. Brian Bransfield as the new general secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
He has been associate general secretary of the conference for five years, working alongside the current general secretary, Msgr. Ronny Jenkins, whose term is ending.
Msgr. Bransfield, a Philadelphia archdiocesan priest, will step into the position in 2016. His term will run for five years. The general secretariat oversees the work of the USCCB on behalf of the U.S. bishops.
The bishops chose Msgr. Bransfield over Father Shawn McKnight, executive director of the USCCB Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations. No vote tally was announced by Msgr. Jenkins.
The bishops also elected Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr of Cincinnati as treasurer-elect. He received 126 votes to 110 for Bishop John M. LeVoir of New Ulm, Minnesota, on the second day of the USCCB’s annual fall general assembly in Baltimore.
Next year, Archbishop Schnurr will succeed the current USCCB treasurer, Bishop Kevin J. Farrell of Dallas.
The bishops also voted for chairmen-elect for six standing committees: Divine Worship; Migration; Domestic Justice and Human Development; Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations; Catholic Education; and Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth. Other elections were for the boards of Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops’ overseas relief and development agency, and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, or CLINIC.
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.