The Pope’s dismissal of Bishop Joseph Strickland from the Diocese of Tyler, Texas cast a shadow over the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) plenary meeting in Baltimore, Maryland on 13-16 November.
A few hundred protesters joined Bishop Strickland to pray the rosary on outside the hotel where the meeting was taking place, but he did not make any attempt to attend the sessions. Former bishops are allowed to attend meetings, but do not have a vote on most issues.
In elections to official posts in the conference, the bishops selected Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City as secretary, a post charged with leading the important Committee on Priorities and Plans.
His election also increases his prospects of being elected conference president in two years’ time. Historically, the vice-president normally succeeds as president but the incumbent conference vice-president, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, will be ineligible for election because of his age.
The bishops voted for Bishop Daniel Thomas of Toledo, Ohio as chair-elect of Pro-Life Activities Committee by a margin of 161-84 over Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, one of the widest margins.
Archbishop Cordileone issued a public decree in 2022 barring then-Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi from receiving communion because of her pro-choice stance on abortion. Most bishops, following the example of all recent popes, do not deny communion to politicians based on their political stances.
The bishops also voted overwhelmingly to endorse a new introductory letter and related materials to their quadrennial document on elections, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship”.
They voted to maintain abortion as the “preeminent priority” in next year’s elections, even though no candidate for federal office will likely face any consequential vote on the issue. The Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe vs Wade in 2022 made abortion law the field of state legislatures.
The bishops also supported a request from the bishops of England of Wales to ask the Holy See to name St John Henry Newman a Doctor of the Church.
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