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November 5, 2019 | The Valley Catholic
IN THE CHURCH
USCCB Assembly to Review Third-Party Reporting System, Elect New Officers
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- An update
to the Program on Priestly Formation,
a progress report on the establishment
of a nationwide, third-party reporting
system for abuse or misconduct by
bishops, and a vote on new leadership
for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bish-
ops (USCCB) are on the agenda for the
bishops’ fall general assembly.
Gathering in Baltimore November
11-13, the bishops also will review
and vote to approve a short letter and
five short video scripts to supplement
“Forming Consciences for Faithful
Citizenship,” the bishops’ quadrennial
teaching document for the faithful on
the political responsibility of Catholics.
The changes in the sixth edition
of the Program on Priestly Formation
have been in the works for more than
a year. The document has governed
seminary formation in the United
States since the bishops issued the first
edition for dioceses in 1971.
At their June assembly, the bishops
overwhelmingly voted to authorize the
implementation of a third-party system
that would allow people to make con-
fidential reports of abuse complaints
against bishops through a toll-free
telephone number and online.
This new national reporting system
would not replace systems already in
place in every diocese for the reporting
of abuse by priests. It is to be operated
by an outside vendor contracted by the
USCCB and should be in place no later
than May 31, 2020.
The “Faithful Citizenship” docu-
ment traditionally has been updated
and released about a year before the
presidential election every four years. It
was last updated in 2015. The new ma-
terials will “apply the teaching of Pope
Francis to our day,” the bishops said in
agreeing to supplement the document
in order to generate more interest in it.
The bishops also will elect a new
president, a vice president, a chairman
for the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops’ Committee for Religious
Liberty and chairman-elect for five
USCCB committees: canonical affairs
and church governance; ecumenical
and interreligious affairs; evangeliza-
tion and catechesis; international jus-
tice and peace; and the protection of
children and young people.
They also will elect the new board
of directors of Catholic Relief Services,
the U.S. bishops’ overseas relief and
development agency.
The assembly will begin with an ad-
dress by Archbishop Christophe Pierre,
papal nuncio to the United States. Car-
dinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-
Houston will give his final address as
USCCB president; his three-year term
ends at the close of the assembly.
The U.S. bishops also will hear a
report from the National Advisory
Council, a group made up of religious
and laypeople that is a consultative
body for the USCCB Administrative
Committee.
Other action items include:
• The USCCB members of Latin-
rite dioceses will vote to approve two
translations by the International Com-
mission on English in the Liturgy: a
translation of the Order of Christian
Initiation of Adults as the base text for
a future edition of the rite in U.S. dio-
ceses; and a translation of the Hymns
of the Liturgy of the Hours for use in
the dioceses.
• The Subcommittee on Hispanic
Affairs of the Committee on Cultural
Diversity in the Church will request
authorization from the full body of
bishops to lead the process of devel-
oping a new formal statement and
comprehensive vision for Hispanic/
Latino ministry in response to the
V Encuentro, or National Fifth En-
cuentro. The statement and vision
document would be developed and
approved by the bishops during the
next USCCB strategic planning cycle,
which is 2021-2024.
• The bishops also will vote on
the USCCB budget for 2020 and give
final approval to a new set of strategic
priorities to guide the work of the
conference from 2021 through 2024:
evangelization, life and dignity of the
human person; “protect and heal God’s
children” and vocations, equipping “all
Christ’s disciples for mission.”
Public sessions of general assembly
discussions and votes as well as por-
tions of the day of spiritual discern-
ment will be available via livestream
at www.usccb.org/live. News updates,
vote totals, texts of addresses and pre-
sentations and other materials for the
bishops’ November assembly will be
posted to www.usccb.org/meetings as
soon as possible.
Synod Calls for More Church Roles for Women, but Stops Short of Diaconate
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY -- Members of the
Synod of Bishops for the Amazon asked
that women be given leadership roles
in the Catholic Church, although they
stopped short of calling for women
deacons.
In the Amazon, like in the rest of
the world, the essential roles women
play within the family, the community,
and the church should be valued and
recognized officially, members of the
synod said in their final document.
The document, which synod mem-
bers voted on October 26, included
a call for the creation of “the insti-
tuted ministry of ‘woman community
leader,’” something they said would
help meet “the changing demands of
evangelization and community care.”
Speaking after the vote on the docu-
ment, Pope Francis said the synod’s
discussion on women “falls short”
of explaining who women are in the
church, particularly “in the transmis-
sion of faith, in the preservation of
culture. I would just like to underline
this: that we have not yet realized
what women mean in the church,” but
instead “we focus on the functional
aspect, which is important,” but is not
everything.
Synod members also asked Pope
Francis to revise St. Paul VI’s 1972
document on ministries, “Ministeria
Quaedam” (“Some Ministries”), so that
women could be installed formally as
lectors and acolytes and in any new
ministries to be developed.
The final document also asked that
“the voice of women be heard, that they
be consulted and participate decision
making” in the church.
“It is necessary for the church to
assume with greater strength their
leadership within the church and for
the church to recognize and promote
it by strengthening their participation
in the pastoral councils of parishes
and dioceses, or even in instances of
government,” the document said.
While noting that a “large number”
of participants in the pre-synod consul-
tations asked for women deacons and
that several members of the synod itself
made such a call, the final document
did not include an explicit request for
such a move.
Instead, the document asked that
Amazon synod members be able “to
share our experiences and reflections”
with members of the commission Pope
Francis set up in 2016 to study the role
and ministry of women deacons in the
New Testament and in early Christian
writings.
In May, Pope Francis told reporters
that the 12 theologians and historians
on the commission were unable to
reach a full consensus on whether
“there was an ordination with the same
form and same aim as the ordination
of men,” but more study was needed.
In his post-vote talk to synod mem-
bers, the pope gave the same explana-
tion, but promised that he would have
the Congregation for the Doctrine of
the Faith “reconvene the commission
or perhaps open it with new members.”
Pope Francis originally set up the
commission at the request of the wom-
en’s International Union of Superiors
General (UISG), and he told the synod
he gave the commission’s report to the
UISG, but he promised to “pick up the
gauntlet” thrown down by women
at the synod who asked for further
discussion.
Quoting a speech from Pope Paul
in 1965, the final document said, “The
hour is coming, in fact has come,
when the vocation of woman is being
achieved in its fullness.”
That is especially true in the Ama-
zon, where women lead communities,
educate children, teach the faith, pro-
claim the Gospel and work diligently to
protect the environment and preserve
indigenous cultures, they said.
When many women are “victims
of physical, moral and religious vio-
lence, including femicide, the church
commits to defense of their rights and
recognizes them a protagonists and
guardians of creation,” synod mem-
bers said.
The document ’s discussion on
Catholic ministry and mission in the
Amazon urged greater formation of
lay men and women, emphasizing their
baptismal vocation to be “missionary
disciples.” Laywomen, like laymen,
must be involved in the “small ecclesial
missionary communities that cultivate
faith, listen to the Word, and celebrate
together the life of the people.”
Without specifying further, the
document said that “it is urgent for the
church in the Amazon to promote and
confer ministries for men and women
in an equitable manner.”