The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will select a new president and vice president during its Fall Plenary Assembly, which is set for Nov. 10 to Nov. 13 in Baltimore, Maryland.
In November, the three-year terms for the current president, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, and vice president, Archbishop William E. Lori, are set to expire. The new conference leaders, who will be chosen from a slate of 10 candidates, will also serve three-year terms.
The following slate of candidates was selected through nominations from the bishops:
Bishop Robert E. Barron, Diocese of Winona-Rochester
Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, Archdiocese of Oklahoma City
Bishop Daniel E. Flores, Diocese of Brownsville
Archbishop Richard G. Henning, Archdiocese of Boston
Bishop David J. Malloy, Diocese of Rockford
Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez, Archdiocese of Philadelphia
Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades, Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend
Archbishop Alexander K. Sample, Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon
Archbishop Charles C. Thompson, Archdiocese of Indianapolis
Archbishop Edward J. Weisenburger, Archdiocese of Detroit
According to a news release from the USCCB, both positions are selected by a majority vote of present voting members. If no bishop receives more than 50% of the vote, the bishops will hold a second vote. If there is still no bishop with a majority, the assembly will vote in a head-to-head race between the two bishops who received the most votes in the second round.
The president is chosen first, and the vice president is chosen from the remaining nine candidates, according to the USCCB.
At the gathering, bishops will also select new chairmen for six committees: the Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance; the Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs; the Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis; the Committee on International Justice and Peace; the Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People; and the Committee on Religious Liberty.
Watch Bishop Barron interview of Father Joseph Fessio.
Pray! In my mind, a few of those candidates are excellent. And, only one causes alarm bells to go off in my brain. May the Holy Spirit guide our bishops.
The bishops should stop meeting. They never do anything meaningful. Just travel and lodging at our expense.
This was a wonderfully interesting discussion between Fr. Fessio and Bishop Barron. I have bought many Ignatius Press books and have two so far from World on Fire. As one poster wrote under the video, “Fr. Fessio’s memory is still so very sharp and clear for his age.”
I also enjoyed watching Brian Holdsworth and Dr. Taylor Marshall on “Surprised by Truth” last night. They brought up many good points. I know that Bishop Barron and Dr. Taylor Marshall got into somewhat of a tiff with each other in the past, but I like them both and have some of Marshall’s books. God bless them all.
Taylor Marshall is a grifter who throws trad red meat to get clicks and donations.
Dr. Taylor Marshall is trying to protect his children from the craziness out there, and like most fathers sometimes he gets it right and sometimes he gets it wrong. For one thing he got Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Jesse Jackson mixed up in one of his videos. He also made fun of Archbishop Sheen’s multi-colored Mission Rosary He really needs to find out why the good bishop used those colors.
I would give him some advice, too. Be careful of eating too much red meat and stop smoking or make it a rare thing. He is setting his children up for a love of tobacco, and tobacco causes a multitude of health problems. My grandfather died of stomach cancer from chewing tobacco. It was not a pleasant death.
No, Dr. Taylor Marshall is a highly-intelligent, beautifully-educated, faithful Catholic, with much good to offer to those who will listen. Better than most of our top Vatican clerics– many of whom are heretical! One of our top Catholic clerics, Cardinal Sarah, is also highly-intelligent and beautifully-educated, and is an outstanding, faithful Catholic prelate– with much to offer to those who will listen. Tradition is very sacred and precious– going all the way back in time, for thousands of years. Christ Himself, long-prophesied and promised by God to the Jewish people, before His incarnation, was a product of His holy Jewish Tradition– every single prophecy came true in His virginal conception, birth, ministry, and death and resurrection— just as predicted, and promised by God. . Tradition is holy and precious– and should be highly respected and revered by all.
I have only read some very intelligent material of Dr. Taylor Marshall. Not sure of this “conspiracy theories”– but that’s okay. Hope he can fix his dietary and smoking problems— that’s strange. Anyway, I also think highly of Bishop Athanasius Schneider. And God bless poor Abp. Vigano— he used to be an honest, faithful Catholic prelate. Much better than his dishonest and heretical successor, Cardinal Christophe Pierre. But poor Vigano sort of “went bonkers” around the time when the evils of Theodore McCarrick were exposed. Nobody would listen to him. Then he got angry and hurt– and “dug his grave” at the dishonest Vatican. No, those prelates that Vigano criticized– were NOT faithful and obedient to the Holy Spirit. They were rebellious, immoral and heretical– and unwilling to repent. And they kicked-out Vigano. Instead, they all should have sat down together, and honestly talked about Church problems. They also fired poor, honest, faithful Bishop Strickland. They are dishonest, worldly Vatican politicians– not faithful Catholic leaders, obedient to Christ.
The World Mission Rosary, which Ven. Abp. Sheen created in 1951, was inspired by his worldwide missionary work, as head of the SPOF — Society for the Propagation of the Faith (1951-1966) when he served as Auxiliary Biship in the Archdiocese of New York. He used to talk about that– he was very proud of it, and was deeply dedicated to serving the poor, worldwide. The five colors that Sheen picked out, stand for the five continents of the world– one color for each decade. Ven. Sheen would talk about his SPOF work, on his wonderful “Life is Worth Living” TV show– and thousands of people loved to send in their donations, big or small, to help the poor of Bishop Sheen’s SPOF charity. I am afraid that this was all long before Dr. Taylor Marshall was even born, in 1978. Ven. Sheen died on Dec. 9, 1979– the day after the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. I sadly mourned, “how can we all live without the wonderful Abp. Sheen? Now, we are all like poor, sad orphans. No more Abp. Sheen. And the world, and our Church– has become…. so bad.
Loved Dr. Taylor Marshall’s public disclosure that he had actually funded Alex Tschugguel’s mischievous “kidnapping” of Pope Francis’ infamous Pachamama idols in 2019, throwing them into the Tiber River. Hilarious!
The young, heroic Austrian “Pachamama slayer,” Alexander Tschugguel, was married in 2019, in a ceremony officiated by Bishop Athanasius Schneider. Wow!
In my post October 18 at 4:32 pm, I should have written that Dr. Marshall “occasionally” gets it wrong. I think he is basically a good Christian and father. There are a lot of good fathers and mothers out there, but none of us are perfect no matter how hard we try, and we are all affected by our background.
I really don’t care anymore. Church politics is just irrelevant to life.
In July, Archbishop Edward Weisenburger fired three theology professors: Ralph Martin, Eduardo Echeverria, and Edward Peters from Sacred Heart Major Seminary, without cause. He violated seminary policy, which indicates the rector of the seminary is the one to terminate seminary faculty. They were not given reasons nor even two weeks notice. Some bishops seem to have selective compassion, in spite of talk about being “pastoral.” They speak of the “marginalized,” yet who are they responsible for “marginalizing?” These men taught there for years with good evaluations. What changed? Only a new bishop. I pray his brother bishops see that he is not qualified for a leadership position among our bishops.
You can’t call the pope a heretic and teach in a Catholic seminary.
Which of those three called the pope a heretic? Can you document your claim?
I’m unaware of that, even though I know two of them have been critical of a couple papal statements of our previous pope.
Consequences– what if the Pope really was a heretic– as a few really were, historically? I do not think it is a good idea, that the Catholic Pope has “absolute monarchical power.” I think Canon Law needs a few changes, to have a way to expel a bad Pope for things like crimes, abuse of power, and heresy.
I do not think Dr. Taylor Marshall even knew that Archbishop Sheen developed that Rosary. I think he suspected it of being one of the “rainbow” Rosaries that some misuse to excuse their behavior, others might just innocently like the rainbow colors and have no idea about its misuse. Not everything multi-colored is rainbow either though some sell it that way.
Marshall is a cattleman, so it is understandable he eats a lot of beef, but we need to vary our diets to remain healthy. He seems to only smoke cigars, but one of my relatives has a recurring cough from inhaling smoke when he worked in a bar, even though he does not smoke himself.
I have an old fanily friend, now a widow, age 89, who never smoked, but developed lung cancer due to exposure to second-hand smoke. She was cured, and in remission all her life, but has had to make yearly trips to a cancer hospital to be tested. She and her late husband were a wholesome couple, well-educated but down-to-earth. He was from an Italian-immigrant family of 11 kids, raised on a Utah farm. She was born and raised in Kansas. They had five children, and were very involved in their church. Smoking is a health-destroying vice. It should never be permitted in a family home– or in anyone’s home. Children should be raised with good, wholesome, mostly fresh, plant-based meals.
I like to smoke cigars when I play poker. So am I a sinner?
In high school, our Choral Director caught a couple of talented singers who were being “smart-alecks,” trying out smoking. They got in trouble– and didn’t do it again. We had a fine choir, with a travel and performance schedule. We all were taught to be careful, and protect our voices, lungs and throats. We were supposed to avoid dairy products (they create phlem) especially, many hours before singing. And avoid places in which smoke, smoking, or toxic air would impair our breathing and harm our throats and lungs. Absolutely no “teenage smoking experiments” were permitted.
There is lots of smoking in hell.
Tragically, the Devil has often been cited throughout history, for luring poor souls to addictions, such as alcohol and tobacco– and since the 1960s– dangerous drugs. Once a poor soul is addicted, they are trapped in a “hell on earth.” Catholic clerical exorcists have said, that in the modern era, there has been an increasing amount of demonic activity, worldwide.
People should talk to their doctor if they smoke. Cigar smoke is as unhealthy as smoking cigarettes, depending on whether one inhales, how often one smokes and so forth.. One still absorbs nicotine through the interior of the mouth, and some websites say there is as much nicotine in one cigar as there is in a pack of cigarettes. Add to that any candle, incense or other smoke, such as from cooking, inhaled in the same area where one is smoking. Cancer of the larynx, lips, mouth, lungs and allergies are some of the side effects of too much smoking. Your doctor and you can decide if you are a sinner or not. That is not my duty.
I will be curious to see how the nearly-too-late, public-demanded trial of the Satanic “Fr.” Marko Rupnik turns out. What will be “Rapenik’s” sentence for his heinous sex crimes? Anything serious? The Vatican makes me sick! They are shockingly, totally dishonest! Little interest in being exemplary Christians, properly running their Church, honestly evangelizing the world, with swift action against criminal clerical sex abusers and other clerical criminals. No sincere interest in helping poor, suffering victims. What a big horse-laugh, are their humanly-chosen clerical leaders– “Tucho” at the DDF, McCarrick, Cupich, McElroy, and many others, who were finally kicked-out due to horrific crimes and corruption– clerical sex abuse, clerical sex abuse cover-ups, keeping mistresses, embezzlement, etc. And what a big horse-laugh, are their big meetings and Church Councils– including Vatican II. All for themselves and their selfish agendas and self- interests. Ignoring Christ and the Holy Spirit. “Do as they please.” Selfish! Corrupt!
I have not (yet) seen anything of the so-called three-year-implementation process, worldwide, at all local levels,:of the Synod on Synodality. With a big, three-year assessment planned in Oct. 2028. Big horse-laugh! What happened? Not looking forward to this! Where is the Holy Spirit– to put the Synod on Synodality to an end?? It is a deviant, worldly, secular, man-made, “Pope Francis” invention– not of Christ– and it is a corruption of the Synod of Bishops.
What we now need is a Synod of the Synod of the Synodality of Synods.