Salvatore Cordileone, the archbishop of San Francisco who is a candidate to head America’s Catholic bishops’ conference, said the breakdown of the family is the most pressing issue in society.
Cordileone, 63, said family fragmentation, whether births out of wedlock or fatherless homes, creates a variety of problems, especially bad outcomes for children later in life. Cordileone is one of several candidates for president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, known as the USCCB, the assembly that oversees America’s Catholic bishops. He told the Washington Examiner that the church needs to act as “the moral conscience of society.”
He said the decline of the nuclear family is the most “urgent, as well as important” problem facing the country.
Labeling it the “root of so many social ills we’re experiencing right now,” Cordileone also said family breakdown is “correlated with so many terrible outcomes for individuals and for society as a whole.”
A San Diego native who studied at the city’s eponymous Catholic university, Cordileone has long been active on family-related issues in California. While the auxiliary bishop of San Diego, he was a vocal proponent of Proposition 8, the 2008 California referendum that banned gay marriage but was struck down by the courts. He was also elected last year to succeed Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput as chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth, which has as part of its mandate the “promotion and protection of marriage and family life.”
And as for reaching out to young people, who are more secular than their forebears, the archbishop said the answer might surprise some people.
“I think for a lot of people it’s counterintuitive, but it’s tradition that the young people respond to,” said Cordileone.
The USCCB presidential and vice presidential elections will take place next month during the body’s general assembly in Baltimore. Ten bishops and archbishops from across the country have been nominated as candidates for these posts. Those elected will serve three-year terms starting at the conclusion of the assembly.
Full story at The Washington Examiner.
It’s heartening that Archbishop Cordileone identifies the vital importance of marriage and family life as the moral conscience of society. This is in stark contrast with the new edict from Rome that the preservation of the environment is the most challenging moral dilemma facing Catholics. I wonder how all the faithful clergy can tolerate this deviation from our fundamental Catholic doctrine to the obsession with the neo-paganism of the Amazon and, inexplicably, the glorifying of pagan symbols, i.e., the “Pachamama” fertility idols blessed by Pope Francis and installed in parishes in Rome? We’re once again left bewildered by the seismic shifts in our Church brought about, not by the laity but by the Church hierarchy.
My vote goes to Ab. Cordeleone for President of the USCCB. Maybe under his leadership he can clean up the corruption in this “Catholic swamp”. The USCCB has about the same credibility as the US Congress — both on the very low double digits.
What three specific things would Abp Cordileone require the Bishops to do if elected? Not vague, flowery generalities, specifics, please
reply to mike m:
1. never pay attention to the never-ending, tendentious and self-aggrandizing texts of “mike m”.
2. repeat your resolution to follow 1. above.
3. repeat your resolution to follow 1. and 2. above.
advice to “mike m”: show more respect to those required to do more than spout idiotic posts.
Me thinks it is “Just The Facts” that needs to practice what he/she preaches. Calling posts here “idiotic”? And your asking to “show respect”? Wow. Just wow.
I’ll add my recommendations to Peggy’s: 1. No idols in Catholic churches, even if such is done “without idolatrous intentions.” 2. No sex with someone who is not one’s spouse, even if such is done “without adulterous intentions.” 3. Remind his brother bishops that ours is not a “make up your own religion,” but Faith that comes to us from the Apostles and Christ Himself.
While I like your question, each bishop is like a mini pope of his own diocese, not under direct control of the conference, its president, or the metropolitan of their area. One can be pressured by peers to act, but unless a bishop fails in personal morals, finances, or administration, he runs his diocese. Look at bishops who promote non traditional novelties. They thrive. Good bishops can set an example, give their speeches, try to reform the structures of the conference, place people in certain positions, there is no command structure toward any conformity. Let us pray for all of them, that God frustrate any evil designs and through the bishops, that God work His divine will.
Excommunicating Nancy Pelosi would be a good start. So tired of having to listen to her talk about what a good Catholic she is.
Mike M,
Here are 3 reasons (of many — maybe others will post more)
1. Stop funding CCHD, Catholic Relief Services and any other organizations that provide contraception, abortion and anything antithetical to Catholic teaching)
2. Do not admit anyone into the seminary who is homosexual
3. Do not allow anyone to teach in Catholic schools (at any level) who does not adhere to Catholic teaching
It is deeply concerning that the Bishop of the DoSD was hand-picked to attend the Amazonian Synod in Rome. That is all I am going to say in order to avoid any ad hominem references.
The good archbishop is on to something here. The state of the American family is a tragedy. Divorce, alcoholism, drug abuse, pornography, poverty, adultery, unemployment, racism, discrimination and disrespect for the vocation of marriage have taken their toll. Contrary to the messages of contemporary culture, marriage is holy and sex is HOLY! Think about it