My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,

Recently, I returned from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops,’ called the “Convocation of Catholic Leaders: The Joy of the Gospel in America.” This was an unprecedented gathering lead by U.S. bishops and key leaders from dioceses, apostolates and Catholic organizations from across the United States. In fact, the meeting was the first time that the USCCB ever called together such a gathering. Over 80 percent of the dioceses attended, with close to 200 bishops also in attendance. Almost 20 members from our Diocese were present, including Auxiliary Bishops Cisneros, Tiedemann, Sansaricq and Massa.