POPE FRANCIS AND THE YOUTH

The recent meeting of the U.S. Catholic bishops in Baltimore attracted significant notice, with Kansas City’s Archbishop Joseph Naumann defeating Chicago’s Blase Cardinal Cupich for the leadership of the bishops’ influential pro-life committee. The contest between Naumann and Cupich was framed as a contest between the bishops’ historical focus on abortion as the primary pro-life issue and a return to the “seamless garment” approach popularized in the 1970s and 1980s by Detroit’s John Cardinal Dearden and Chicago’s Joseph Cardinal Bernardin. It is thought that the seamless garment approach is more in line with the views of Pope Francis.

Remembering Depths and Heights

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) held its annual Fall meeting in Baltimore last week. There was good news on several fronts: Kansas City Archbishop Joseph Naumann, longtime defender of the unborn, was elected head of the pro-life committee; the bishops chose (in descending order), Bishop Robert Barron, Archbishop Chaput, Cardinal di Nardo, and Archbishop Gomez – all serious characters – as delegates to next year’s Synod on “Young People, Faith, and Vocational Discernment.” (TCT will, Deo volente, be there). Those chosen for other leadership posts were equally solid. All in all, a good week’s work and nothing earth-shaking, which is all to the good these, and most, days.

NCR Podcast: Vatican conference on nuclear disarmament; recap of USCCB plenary meeting

This week, Joshua J. McElwee, NCR Vatican correspondent, reports from a recent high-profile conference at the Vatican on nuclear disarmament. He’ll explain what Pope Francis said about nuclear weapons, and whether the world is listening to Catholic leaders. Later, NCR’s Michael Sean Winters and Heidi Schlumpf are back with a recap of the bishops meeting in Baltimore earlier this week. They talk about what election results mean for the future of U.S. church leadership. The conversation also touches on some noteworthy action items from the meeting, including the vote to create a pastoral plan on marriage and family life.

Show Notes

Report: US bishops choose delegates for 2018 Synod

Meeting in Baltimore for their annual fall assembly, the U.S. bishops have selected their choices for delegates to next year’s Synod on Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment, multiple sources have reported to CNA.

First ‘Alta-Baja’ Bishops Meeting Connects U.S. And Mexico

Three archbishops and nine bishops representing at least 13 million Catholics from Sacramento to Ensenada have resurrected their “Alta-Baja” friendship, paving the way to potentially working together in the future.

Bishops voice support of migrants, worries over ‘poisoning rhetoric’

The longest and most passionate discussion on the first day of the fall assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Nov. 13 focused on immigrants, on how to help them but also how to drive home the point that they, too, are our brothers and sisters and should not be demonized.