UNITED STATES
Religion Dispatches
BY PATRICIA MILLER NOVEMBER 14, 2014
The U.S. bishops’ semi-annual meeting, which concluded in Baltimore on Thursday, was one giant raspberry to Pope Francis’ agenda. The meeting was heavy on the bishops’ favorite culture war themes, but largely dissed issues near and dear to Francis like income inequality and immigration.
The oversight on immigration was so glaring in light of the current debate in Washington that the bishops hastily arranged for Bishop Eusebio Elizondo, the head of the bishops’ migration committee, to remind the meeting about a letter the committee sent the Obama administration in September urging executive action on the immigration crisis.
The bishops failed to elect Francis’ favorite bishop, Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley, to represent them at the next critical leg of the family summit. They are, however, sending the president and the VP of the bishops’ conference, as well as Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, who has been highly critical of efforts to modernize the church. Newly appointed Chicago Bishop Blase J. Cupich was selected as an alternate.
And Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who spent the meeting denying that there was any discord at the recent family synod and blaming any perception of such on the media, was elected to head the Committee on Pro-Life Activities, giving him an elevated platform and a good excuse to dial-up the anti-abortion rhetoric.
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