Bishop Robert Barron

“No storm can shake my inmost calm, while to that rock I’m clinging. Since love is Lord of heaven and earth, how can I keep from singing?”

Bishop Robert Barron

As we move into the spiritual space of John the Baptist and into the Advent season, we should pray, let go, and perform the works of mercy.

Bishop Robert Barron

Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus responds to questions about the end of the world. When will it come? What will happen?

Brandon Vogt

For the Church to flourish, we can't just manage decline. We need strategies for growth. That's what Brandon Vogt and I discuss today.

Bishop Robert Barron

Love is willing the good of the other, opening yourself to the world around you. Love is not a feeling; it’s an act of the will.

Bishop Robert Barron

This day reminds us what the Christian thing is all about: that Jesus really is the King, the Lord of our lives.

Bishop Robert Barron

Today’s Gospel reports a conversation Jesus had with some of the Sadducees, who held that there is no life after death.

Bishop Robert Barron

Jesus himself is the place where God dwells, and we, in the measure that we are grafted onto him, are temples of the Holy Spirit.

BALTIMORE - The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) gathered November 14-17 for their Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore. During their meeting, the bishops elected a new president, vice-president, and secretary to lead the Conference; their terms began immediately at the conclusion of the 2022 plenary today. During their gathering, the body of bishops also elected new chairmen of seven standing committees. Six of the elected bishops will serve for one year as the committee chairman-elect before beginning a three-year term that begins at the conclusion of the bishops’ 2023 Plenary Assembly, and the new chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Pro-Life Activities assumes the chairmanship immediately to complete the term of the previous chairman who was voted Conference vice president.

The assembly began with an address by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, papal nuncio to the United States. Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles gave his final address as USCCB president upon completion of his three-year term.

The bishops spent time in prayer and fraternal dialogue with one another throughout the gathering. In acknowledgment of twenty years since the drafting and passage of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, the bishops were led in prayer and reflection by Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, CSsR of Newark and Mr. Mark Joseph Williams.

The robust agenda for the bishops’ assembly included updates on the following items: the Synod of Bishops; the ongoing war in Ukraine; the bishops’ Eucharistic Revival initiative and national congress; the Church’s support for women and families in light of the Supreme Court’s decision this summer in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization; policy advocacy and ongoing work of Migration and Refugee Services; information on World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal; and the Journeying Together intercultural dialogue and encounter process.

The bishops also engaged in discussion on the approach to their teaching document on the political responsibility of Catholics, Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, and its related materials to be executed over the next year. By an overwhelming majority, the bishops voted to reissue the teaching document without revisions but add supplemental materials and begin a process of reexamining the teaching document following the 2024 election.

The bishops voted with 215 in favor, 4 against, and 1 abstention to approve the 2023 proposed budget, presented by the Committee on Budget and Finance.

The Latin Church members of the USCCB voted to approve revisions in rites related to the anointing of the sick and lay ministry to the sick, as well as liturgical texts for two recently instituted feast days:

• A revision of the U.S. English-language edition of “The Order of the Anointing of the Sick and of their Pastoral Care” was approved with 196 in favor, 4 against, and 1 abstention. A new U.S. Spanish language edition of the same text was approved with 200 in favor, 3 against, and 3 abstentions.
• The texts of prayers and rites in English that can be used by lay ecclesial ministers in their ministry to the sick, “Lay Ministry to the Sick” was approved with 196 in favor, 8 against, and 2 abstentions. The Spanish-language edition of the same text was approved with 196 in favor, 8 against, and 2 abstentions.
• Liturgical texts for the two optional memorials, the memorial for Saint Paul VI (May 29), and the memorial for Our Lady of Loreto (December 10) passed with 204 in favor, 0 against, and 0 abstentions.

The approval of all texts requires a two-thirds vote of the Latin-rite bishops, and the “The Order of the Anointing of the Sick and of their Pastoral Care” also requires “recognitio” from the Vatican.

The bishops were also consulted on the causes of beatification and canonization for three lay persons: Mother Margaret Mary Healy-Murphy, Michelle Duppong, and Cora Louise Evans. By a voice vote, the bishops affirmed support for the advancement of all three causes of beatification and canonization on the diocesan level.

Tune in to USCCB’s Catholic Current for November 15 and November 16 from Baltimore. News updates, texts of addresses and presentations, and other materials from the 2022 plenary are posted to: www.usccb.org/meetings.

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Media Contact:
Chieko Noguchi
202-541-3200

WASHINGTON - On November 16, 2022, the United States Senate voted 62–37 to advance the Respect for Marriage Act.  In response, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Religious Liberty, issued the following statement:

“It is deeply concerning that the U.S. Senate has voted to proceed toward potential passage of the Respect for Marriage Act, which would essentially codify the Supreme Court’s ruling in Obergefell that found a constitutional right to same-sex civil marriages.

“The Catholic Church will always uphold the unique meaning of marriage as a lifelong, exclusive union of one man and one woman. In doing so, we are joined by millions of what the Obergefell Court called ‘reasonable and sincere’ Americans – both religious and secular – who share this time-honored understanding of the truth and beauty of marriage.

“Senators promoting the Act have claimed that their amended bill ‘respects and protects Americans’ religious liberties,’ but the provisions of the Act that relate to religious liberty are insufficient.

“Obergefell created countless religious liberty conflicts, but the Act offers only limited protections. Those protections fail to resolve the main problem with the Act: in any context in which conflicts between religious beliefs and same-sex civil marriage arise, the Act will be used as evidence that religious believers must surrender to the state’s interest in recognizing same-sex civil marriages. Wedding cake bakers, faith-based adoption and foster care providers, religious employers seeking to maintain their faith identity, faith-based housing agencies – are all at greater risk of discrimination under this legislation.

“The bill is a bad deal for the many courageous Americans of faith and no faith who continue to believe and uphold the truth about marriage in the public square today. The Act does not strike a balance that appropriately respects our nation’s commitment to the fundamental right of religious liberty. Senators supporting the Act must reverse course and consider the consequences of passing an unnecessary law that fails to provide affirmative protections for the many Americans who hold this view of marriage as both true and foundational to the common good.”

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Media Contact:
Chieko Noguchi
202-541-3200