tvc.dsj.org | November 19, 2019
IN THE CHURCH
13
Archbishop Gómez Elected USCCB President; First Latino in Post
By Dennis Sadowski
Catholic News Service
BALTIMORE -- Archbishop José H.
Gómez of Los Angeles was elected to a
three-year term as president of the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops during
the bishops’ fall general assembly in
Baltimore.
The native of Mexico was chosen
November 12 with 176 votes from a slate
of 10 nominees.
Archbishop Gómez, 67, is the first
Latino to be elected president. He has
served as conference vice president for
the past three years, working alongside
Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galves-
ton-Houston, the outgoing president.
His term as president begins when the
assembly ends.
The Los Angeles prelate has been a
leading advocate of immigrant rights,
often voicing support for newcomers
as they face growing restrictions being
implemented by the Department of
Homeland Security and other federal
agencies.
In subsequent voting, Archbishop
Allen H. Vigneron of Detroit, conference
secretary, was elected vice president. He
was elected on the third ballot by 151-90
in a runoff with Archbishop Timothy P.
Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the
Military Services.
Under USCCB bylaws, after the elec-
tion for president, the vice president
is elected from the remaining nine
candidates.
The two top officers began their
terms at the conclusion of the fall as-
sembly November 13.
In voting for a new secretary, the
assembly elected Archbishop Broglio,
112-87, over Bishop Daniel E. Thomas
of Toledo, Ohio. Archbishop Broglio
will serve through the end of the term
in 2021.
The bishops also voted for the chair-
man of one committee, chairmen-elect
of five other conference committees,
and three representatives on the board
of Catholic Relief Services, which is the
U.S. bishops’ overseas relief and devel-
opment agency.
In the first committee vote, there
was a tie vote between Archbishop
Thomas G. Wenski of Miami and
Bishop George V. Murry of Youngstown,
Ohio, for chairman of the Committee
for Religious Liberty. Each candidate
received 121 votes, but Bishop Murry,
at 70, became chairman under USCCB
bylaws because he is the older of the two
candidates. Archbishop Wenski is 69.
The committee had been chaired by
Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louis-
ville, Kentucky, but he stepped down
earlier this year to undergo treatment
for bladder and prostate cancer. Bishop
Murry will serve the remaining year of
Archbishop Kurtz’s term.
Vote tallies for committee chairmen-
elect are:
• Committee on Canonical Affairs
and Church Governance: Arch-
bishop Jerome E. Listecki of Mil-
waukee elected over Bishop Mark
L. Bartchak of Altoona-Johnstown,
Pennsylvania, 144-97.
• Committee on Ecumenical and In-
terreligious Affairs: Bishop Daniel
P. Talley of Memphis, Tennessee,
elected over Bishop Steven J. Lopes
of the Personal Ordinariate of the
Chair of St. Peter, 123-114.
• Committee on Evangelization and
Catechesis: Auxiliary Bishop An-
drew H. Cozzens of St. Paul and
Minneapolis, elected over Bishop
Thomas A. Daly of Spokane, Wash-
ington, 151-88.
• Committee on International Justice
and Peace: Bishop David J. Malloy
of Rockford, Illinois, elected over
Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento,
California, 140-101.
• Committee on Protection of Chil-
dren and Young People: Bishop
James V. Johnson of Kansas City-
St. Joseph, Missouri, was elected
over Bishop W. Shawn McKnight
of Jefferson City, Missouri, 167-77.
Each chairman-elect will begin his
three-year term as chairmen at the end
of the 2020 fall general assembly.
In addition, several chairmen-elect
chosen last year will become committee
chairmen at the end of this year’s as-
sembly and will serve three-year terms:
• Committee on Catholic Education:
Bishop Michael C. Barber of Oak-
land, California.
• Committee on Clergy, Consecrated
Life and Vocations: Bishop James F.
Checchio of Metuchen, New Jersey.
• Committee on Divine Worship:
Archbishop Leonard P. Blair of
Hartford, Connecticut.
• Committee on Domestic Justice
and Human Development: Arch-
bishop Paul S. Coakley of Okla-
homa City.
• Committee on Laity, Marriage,
Family Life and Youth: Arch-
bishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of
San Francisco.
• Committee on Migration: Auxil-
iary Bishop Mario E. Dorsonville
of Washington.
A final vote was taken for three seats
on the CRS board. Elected were Bishop
Frank J. Caggiano of Bridgeport, Con-
necticut; Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso,
Texas; and Bishop Anthony B. Taylor of
Little Rock, Arkansas.
Bishop Cantú Comments
on Archbishop Gómez’s
Election as USCCB
President
On June 2, 2008, Archbishop José
Gómez, then archbishop of San Antonio,
ordained me a bishop. I would work
with him as his auxiliary bishop in San
Antonio for two years, before he was
reassigned to Los Angeles in 2010. May
the Lord strengthen and guide him as
he leads the bishops’ conference.
Bishops Urged to Heed Pope’s Call: Listen to and Accompany Young People
By Carol Zimmermann
Catholic News Service
BALTIMORE -- The day after the U.S.
bishops were encouraged at their Bal-
timore meeting to bring young people
back to the church, they were urged to
also pay more attention to and support
the teens and young adults among them
in parishes and church programs.
To help them do this, they were
advised November 12 to use “Christus
Vivit” (“Christ Lives”) -- Pope Francis’
reflection on the 2018 Synod of Bishops
on young people, the faith and voca-
tional discernment -- as their guide.
“’Christus Vivit’ is a call to action
for everyone in the life of the church
regardless of our age,” said Bishop
Frank J. Caggiano of Bridgeport, Con-
necticut, a delegate to last year’s Synod
of Bishops on young people.
In remarks on the second day of
the bishops’ Nov. 11-13 meeting, he
acknowledged that many in the room
might feel uncertain about how to re-
spond to and help young people in the
church, but he said they can find en-
couragement from the pope’s message
and, in particular, his sentiment that
young people are the church’s hope.
The pope’s apostolic exhortation --
which is both a letter to young people
about their place in the church and a
plea for older members to encourage
them -- was described by Bishop Cag-
giano as a call to action and a moment
of grace that “we should not and cannot
allow to slip away.”
For starters, he said his fellow bish-
ops should read the pope’s document
“from cover to cover and engage in
dialogue” about it with church leaders
on the diocesan and parish level as a
way to enrich church ministries and
outreach.
So the bishops would not just take
his word for it, Bishop Caggiano also
introduced two young adults to them
who gave their insights on the pope’s
document.
Brenda Noriega, coordinator of
young adult ministry for the Diocese
of San Bernardino, California, told the
bishops she was grateful for “Christus
Vivit” because it provided a founda-
tion for her work. She said one of her
favorite parts of it is where the pope
responds to the frustrations of many
young people and reminds them that
God loves them and that they matter.
She said she finds hope with pas-
tors who are willing to listen to young
people and “accompany us on the
journey like spiritual fathers.”
Brian Rhude, program coordinator
at the Catholic Apostolate Center in
Washington, said he wouldn’t be before
the bishops at this moment if it hadn’t
been for the Catholics who accompa-
nied him over the years.
Rhude said he was particularly
struck by how Pope Francis warns
against looking at all young people
with broad strokes and assuming they
are all the same. He also said he had
been inspired by message in “Christus
Vivit” that “our individual stories do
not occur in a vacuum” and that as
people come to know more about each
other they can “form the greater story
that God is writing.”
Bishop Caggiano stressed the im-
portance of youth and young adult
ministry already at work and suggest-
ed that bishops find ways to continue
to encourage these efforts and invest in
them even more, expanding efforts of
a more diverse outreach.
“Quite frankly, our ministry will
not reach its goal unless every young
person is at the table, particularly those
who are immigrants, marginalized and
poor,” he said.
He concluded by stressing that
above all, the bishops should “listen
more deeply” to young people.
“We do a lot of talking about young
people and young adults,” he said, “but
Pope Francis is asking us in the heart
to listen to and learn from them and
invite them right now into appropriate
leadership in the church.”