This month (November 13 - 15), the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will meet in Baltimore to consider a strategic plan to implement their priorities as a Conference.
A year ago, when the Bishops set the agenda, most of which seemed little influenced by Pope Francis, the priorities they selected were the following.
1) Evangelization: Open wide the doors to Christ through missionary discipleship and personal encounter.
2) Family and Marriage: Encourage and heal families; inspire Catholics to embrace the Sacrament of Matrimony.
3) Human life and dignity: Uphold the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death with special concern for the poor and vulnerable.
4) Vocations and ongoing formation: Encourage vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life, and provide meaningful ongoing formation to clergy, religious and lay ministers.
5) Religious freedom: Promote and defend the freedom to serve, witness and worship, in the U.S. and abroad.
While there is nothing particularly wrong with these, they could have been written before Francis ever became Pope.
It is increasingly clear that the American Bishops are oblivious to Holy Father and the spirit of the teachings and pastoral sensitivity which are defining his Papacy.
In none of the Bishops' proposals is the content and tone of Pope Francis’ Evangelii Gaudium reflected. Neither do the American Bishops as a body accept or seek to implement the teachings and practice with regard to Marriage and the Family advocated by Amoris Laetitia.
Should not the all of the Conference’s programs and policies be reexamined to see if they reflect the spirit of these Papal teachings?
Should they not affirm the Holy Father’s admonition that Evangelization "is not about preaching complicated doctrines, but joyfully proclaiming Christ who died and rose for our sake”?
Likewise, should not the USCCB mirror Pope Francis’ encouragement of a much more pastoral and less condemnatory approach toward people?
If so, would not the USCCB’s approach to how the Church approaches and accompanies those who disagree with the Bishops would have to change?
Should not the USCCB incorporate into their discussions about "human life and dignity" the principles enunciated in Pope Francis’ Evangelii Gaudium and Laudato Si, wherein in concern for the poor and marginalized and care for the environment have become signature features of the Pope’s initiatives?
At the moment, Pope Francis is preparing to address "vocations and ongoing formation" at the 2018 Synod of Bishops.
Should not the USCCB encourage a conversation in the Church in preparation for that Synod, a conversation that should include youth of a variety of viewpoints, especially the large number of Millennials who have abandoned the practice of the Faith?
The November meeting of the USCCB is an opportunity for the Bishops to unite with the Holy Father and to make sure that the Conference is traveling along the same path as Pope Francis.
Yet, the USCCB seems quite content to simply rubber stamp the same tired programs that are neither effective or helpful.
The Bishops need to show that they understand Pope Francis and support his change in direction, a direction that includes more dialogue, more pastoral sensitivity, and more compassion.
But, in an October press release for the upcoming General Assembly, the USCCB has shown precious little interest in doing anything even remotely associated with recent Papal initiatives.
Consider how Francis’s recent motu proprio, Magnum principium, has caused not even a ripple within the Conference.
A month after he announced a basic and consequential change in the Bishops’ responsibility for liturgical translations, giving them new criteria by which to judge the prior instruction on translation, Liturgiam authenticam, what do we see on the agenda? They are going to vote on the new translation of the Order of Baptism, prepared according to Liturgiam authenticam.
It’s as if Magnum principium did not even exist.
Why does it seem there is so little comprehension in the USCCB when they read what Pope Francis has to say? The Conference seems to be screening out anything that would call for change.
The USCCB’s Advisor on Doctrine denounces the Pope and the Conference call this “dialogue”?
Capuchin Father Thomas Weinandy, released to the press a letter in which he mounted a serious attack on Pope Francis, accusing him of misleading the faithful, appointing bishops whose teaching promotes falsehoods, demeaning doctrine itself, and risking “the sin against the Holy Spirit.”
In response to this outrageous and scandalous behavior, Father Weinandy was asked to resign. Yet in announcing the decision, Conference President. Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, offered a statement about the value of dialogue.
Dialogue?
Their Advisor on Coctrine publicly denounces the Pope and the USCCB calls this “dialogue”?
Pope Francis has clearly signaled the inception of the Church’s return toward a spirit of Synodality which the Pontiff has aimed to implement on a structural and practical basis.
After decades of Roman Curia’s attempts to crack down on the purview of the Conferences, Pope Francis has shown how dramatically he wishes the pendulum to shift back in the regional and national Bishops Conferences’ direction.
But the American Bishops seem ill prepared and hesitant to accept this responsibility.
If the vision of collegiality and subsidiarity encouraged by the Fathers of Vatican II and fully supported in the initiatives of Pope Francis is to have any real and lasting effect on Church governance, the Bishops themselves need to understand and enthusiastically embrace the mission that has been and remains rightfully theirs to teach, govern and sanctify those entrusted to their pastoral care.
The USCCB is woefully unprepared and clearly reluctant to embrace the responsibilities that are surely theirs.
What a pity as it relates to the vision of Pope Francis! What a pity for the American Church in such dire need of a relevant voice from the Successors of the Apostles!
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