CALIFORNIA — Most Junes, the U.S. bishops convene for what is commonly called their spring plenary -- a mid-year assembly to tend to affairs concerning their episcopal conference, and a way to move forward policies, plans and committee work ahead of the more robust November plenary assembly.
This June, however, the ordinary work of a plenary assembly is set aside, leaving behind a business agenda for a triennial, weeklong retreat in California.
While some conference committees meet ahead of the gathering, the bishops are not scheduled to be dealing with ordinary business as a body. Still, there will be no shortage of items to talk about when the bishops are together. Since the bishops last met in Baltimore last November, the United States has sworn in a new president and the College of Cardinals has elected a new pope.
The early days of President Donald Trump's second term brought many changes to operations of the federal government's USAID program, which in turn led to significant cuts to the federal dollars funding the conference's migrant resettlement services. Widespread layoffs followed, significantly decreasing the USCCB workforce as well as the church's ability to assist the federal government in resettling migrants in the U.S.
Despite these tensions with the Trump administration, some U.S. bishops have accepted the president's invitation to serve as members of and advisers to a new commission on religious liberty Trump established in May.
While New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan and Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, serve on the commission, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco and Bishops Thomas J. Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, and Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, have agreed to serve the commission on an advisory board of religious leaders.
Who can effectively serve as a liaison with the Trump administration on behalf of the body of U.S. bishops at this critical juncture is likely to top consideration for who will be put forward to take the reins of the bishops' conference, as conference membership will itself be electing a new president and vice president in Baltimore this fall.
With Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese of Military Services wrapping up his three-year term as conference president at the end of the upcoming November assembly, longtime tradition dictates that the incumbent vice president would be on the ballot as presumed successor. But the tradition of electing vice presidents as presidents has been broken in recent years, as the age of such bishops has made them ineligible to stand for the presidency.
Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, whose term as vice president ends at the conclusion of the November plenary, recently turned 74 and is therefore ineligible to stand for presidency since he could not complete a three-year term as president before he turns 75, the age at which canon law requires bishops to submit their resignation to the pope.
Not only will the bishops' relationship with the White House be a significant factor in choosing new conference leadership later this year, but also the emerging priorities and vision of the new successor of Peter.
Pope Francis' death on April 21 and Pope Leo XIV's election on May 8 have brought about, if nothing else, a change in the status quo. Pope Leo's first month has indicated a shift to a calmer, less frenetic pontificate. While bishops often turn to the pope as a model for priorities and plans, it remains to be seen how Pope Leo's emerging and fresh approach to Petrine ministry will be interpreted and implemented among the U.S. episcopate.
In the first month of his pontificate, Leo has named two men for the episcopate -- an auxiliary for the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, and a bishop to head the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, Louisiana -- and elevated two auxiliary bishops to serve as diocesan bishops: San Diego and Pittsburgh. At least two of these appointments, if not all four, were in progress before Pope Leo's election, and likely do not offer any papal tea leaves to be read.
More significantly, it remains unclear which, if any, U.S. bishops are close to Pope Leo or might be relied upon as American point men in his pontificate. One key factor in deciding this will likely be who the former Cardinal Robert F. Prevost nominates to take his place as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops.
Although Leo is the first U.S.-born pope, he has very little experience in common with most U.S. bishops. A Chicago native, Pope Leo has few ties to American bishops and never held membership at the U.S. bishops' conference. Much of his priestly ministry was spent outside of the States, notably in Rome for a dozen years where he served as prior general of the Augustinian order, and in Peru, where he served both as a priest and later as a diocesan bishop for just under a decade.
Pope Leo's emphasis on ecclesial unity in the early days of his pontificate comes in the wake of new divisions that arose under his predecessor's tenure. While many U.S. bishops were not eager to enforce the strict rules promulgated by Pope Francis pertaining to the celebration of the Mass according to the 1962 Roman Missal, the way some have implemented the pertinent legal restrictions has inflicted new wounds.
Most recently, Bishop Michael T. Martin of Charlotte, North Carolina, decided to confine use of the 1962 Missal -- what is often referred to as the traditional Latin Mass, also known as TLM -- to one locale, with little consultation or preparation. This news came just before a draft letter had been leaked in which Bishop Martin outlined potential widespread liturgical change to his diocese -- which many have criticized as overly polemical, ideological and divisive -- the likes of which have not been seen for decades.
After a massive outcry, Bishop Martin decided to postpone the movement of the TLM to the central locale, adding the caution that if Rome decides to change Pope Francis' directives, he would comply. He also reportedly shelved the drafted document.
The episode in Charlotte comes as the National Eucharistic Revival draws to an end. While the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis last July and corresponding pilgrimage were widely regarded as successes, the revival itself has largely fallen flat, implemented in each diocese to varying degrees and never given much heft from Rome.
The U.S. bishops' signature priority of the last several years -- the efforts of the church in the U.S. to refocus and sharpen Eucharistic devotion and Eucharistic living -- hobbled along among renewed liturgical wars, such as those instigated in the latest Charlotte fiasco, and more often surfaced ideological in-fighting rather than effected greater ecclesial unity.
The three-year revival comes to an end in Los Angeles on the feast of Corpus Christi, as the bishops conclude their retreat in the same state -- perhaps a setting for the bishops to reflect on the successes and missed opportunities of the effort overall.
Finally, a large number of bishops -- though not all -- find themselves now presiding over institutional and fiscal decline and a shrinking footprint. This is most recently evidenced in the Archdiocese of Washington, which, plagued with scandal and financial collapse, laid off about one-quarter of its chancery staff June 5, including some in high-profile positions. So too in Buffalo, New York, where it has been announced that parishes are expected to absorb nearly half of a proposed bankruptcy settlement related to clergy sexual abuse.
During such challenging times, and considering their jam-packed schedules of daily ministry, the rare occasion to spend time in each other's company to foster greater unity in spirit and purpose and together navigate the changing landscape in which they now minister is no doubt welcome. The faithful should pray that a week of retreat in sunny California affords the bishops the opportunity to build up fraternity and bolster the spiritual growth needed to strengthen their ministry.
Ideally, too, they will use the opportunity as a launching pad for a new era of leadership for the U.S. bishops to be born. The results of November's plenary assembly elections will be what bears testimony as to its effectiveness.
— Michael R. Heinlein, OSV News
USCCB president: Bishops stand with immigrants 'in this challenging hour'
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USCCB president: Bishops stand with immigrants 'in this challenging hour'
"No one can turn a deaf ear to the palpable cries of anxiety and fear heard in communities throughout the country in the wake of a surge in immigration enforcement actions," said the leader of the nation's Catholic bishops in a June 16 statement that assured all impacted of their shepherds' support.
Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. military archdiocese, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued a reflection ahead of the USCCB's weeklong retreat in California, a triennial gathering that this year replaces the bishops' usual spring plenary session.
The archbishop said the occasion of the bishops' gathering seemed "appropriate to give voice to a profound concern in the hearts of the Shepherds of the Church in our Country" over the Trump administration's immigration policies.
While he commended law enforcement actions "aimed at preserving order and ensuring community security" as "necessary for the common good," Archbishop Broglio said, "The current efforts go well beyond those with criminal histories."
Following through on a campaign pledge, President Donald Trump has cracked down on immigration to the U.S. Among the administration's efforts are terminating protected status for migrants from several conflict-wrought nations, fully or partly banning travel to the U.S. from several nations, ordering Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to meet daily arrest quotas of 3,000, halting visa interviews for foreign students, attempting to end birthright citizenship and deporting persons without permanent legal status in the U.S. to third countries in defiance of court orders.
While the administration claims to target criminal actors in its sweeps, several high-profile arrests and deportations have impacted individuals with no demonstrated criminal record. Some 44% of the more than 51,000 in ICE detention facilities as of June 1 are estimated to have no criminal record, other than entering the U.S. without permission, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.
The USCCB and Catholic Charities USA are among some 200 non-governmental organizations named in a congressional probe for allegedly aiding immigrants its leaders call "inadmissible aliens" during former President Joe Biden's administration.
"In the context of a gravely deficient immigration system, the mass arrest and removal of our neighbors, friends and family members on the basis of immigration status alone, particularly in ways that are arbitrary or without due process, represent a profound social crisis before which no person of good will can remain silent," said Archbishop Broglio. "The situation is far from the communion of life and love to which this nation of immigrants should strive."
He pointed to Pope Leo XIV's recent video address to the young people of Chicago and the world -- in which, said Archbishop Broglio, the pope "reminded us that at the heart of the Christian faith is an invitation to share in the communion of life and love of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the first community and based completely on love."
"The Holy Father also challenged us to be a sign of hope by making the world a better place," said Archbishop Broglio.
The archbishop noted the backlash sparked by Trump administration policies on immigration.
"The many actions of protest throughout the country reflect the moral sentiments of many Americans that enforcement alone cannot be the solution to addressing our nation's immigration challenges," he said.
"While protest and dissent can be a legitimate expression of democratic participation, violence is never acceptable," Archbishop Broglio stressed.
At the same time, he observed that injustice can be a trigger for conflict, quoting Pope Francis' encyclical "Evangelii Gaudium": "Without equal opportunities the different forms of aggression and conflict will find a fertile terrain for growth and eventually explode."
Archbishop Broglio said that "the chronic lack of opportunities for legal status for our immigrant brothers and sisters, together with the growing denial of due process to them, is injurious to human dignity and is a considerable factor in the breakdown of the rule of law."
He added, "Likewise, unfounded accusations against Catholic service providers, who every day endeavor to provide critical support and care to the most vulnerable, contribute to societal tensions and a growing climate of fear."
Speaking on behalf of the nation's bishops, Archbishop Broglio said, "I want to assure all of those affected by actions which tear at the fabric of our communities of the solidarity of your pastors.
"As your shepherds, your fear echoes in our hearts and we make your pain our own. Count on the commitment of all of us to stand with you in this challenging hour," he said.
He also acknowledged "those in our Catholic service and community organizations working to promote the common good by binding up the wounds of the afflicted."
Archbishop Broglio assured "those motivated by the urgency of the current moment to work for just and humane solutions to these immigration challenges" of "the cooperation and goodwill of the Catholic Bishops of our country."
— Gina Christian, OSV News