“We work with every President and every Congress. On some issues we find ourselves more on the side of Democrats, while on others we find ourselves standing with Republicans. Our priorities are never partisan. We are Catholics first, seeking only to follow Jesus Christ faithfully and to advance his vision for human fraternity and community.”
In the spirit of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., “we must meet the forces of hate and ignorance with the power of love,” the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said in a statement for the Jan. 18 federal observance of the slain civil rights leader’s birthday.
After hours of chaos in the nation’s capital Wednesday where President Donald Trump supporters descended upon and infiltrated the Capitol building in protest of the 2020 election, Catholic leaders across the country condemned the violence and called for peace.
The U.S. bishops’ conference is encouraging Catholics to get a coronavirus vaccination because it’s a “moral responsibility for the common good,” even if some vaccines are connected to abortion-derived cell lines.
The signals were clear at the start of the pandemic. No Masses, no offertory income. No offertory income, nothing to assess by the diocese. Nothing in the diocese to assess, reduced revenue to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Archbishop José Gómez of Los Angeles, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, announced the new working group chaired by Archbishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit in unscheduled remarks to close out last week’s U.S. Bishops meeting. As part of the statement, he said it creates a “difficult and complex” situation that the second ever Catholic president elect supports abortion rights.
For many U.S. bishops, the virtual nature of this year’s annual fall meeting actually made it more efficient and productive than a typical year.
Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron of Detroit will head up a special working group of the U.S. bishops to address issues surrounding the election of a Catholic president and policies that may come about that would be in conflict with Catholic teaching and the bishops’ priorities.
When the U.S. bishops decided to continue with their annual fall meeting despite a pandemic, they took it online, shortened its length but also its scope, leaving only the most essential matters on the to-do list.And at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops 2020 fall meeting, racism was part of that essential business.
The U.S. bishops are considering renewing the mandate of their Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism for a second three-year term.
