Questions Before the USCCB Meeting

They surprise me, these Bishops. A measure of transparency surrounds the USCCB meeting next Tuesday and Wednesday. A news release lists items on the agenda for the plenary sessions with links to relevant documents. There’s a live stream and social media coverage. WOW! But before I knew all this, I made a list of some questions I’d like to see addressed, and I am still going to share them here.

First topic on my list is Women. I ask the assembled prelates: What response do you have to the conclusion in the US national synthesis, in the Vatican document for the continental stage, and in just about every other national document that women need to be respected and have a greater role in church governance and leadership? Can you support women preaching? Women deacons? Women priests? Or even parish councils with real authority to make decisions, to use just one example of governance concerns? Even Pope Francis said this week that things get better when women get a job, and used the language of women’s equality. He’s learning. Can you?

Second on my list is the Synod. I ask: How are American bishops supporting continuing
dialogue? The link is to the elaborate schedule for feedback, but much more helpful is the FAQ. The US and Canada will meet together in virtual sessions in December and January. Mexico will be part of the Latin America group, since they have been meeting – and generating significant documents – for years. All bishops are invited, and each appoints 3-5 delegates to one of ten English, Spanish or French “assemblies.” Local listening sessions are encouraged to prepare for them, but there’s not much time. Letters to bishops are encouraged by the Vatican, too. Will there be rousing endorsement or vigorous critique of the documents, or just pro-forma agreement with the process? Thomas Reese in NCR and Paul Baumann in Commonweal have weighed in recently.

Third is Religious Liberty. I characterized it as their big issue, but it’s not on the agenda in so many words. I ask: Is it going to come up in other discussions? I was inspired to list it because of a terrific article in The Nation by Bryce Covert, which makes me feel as if I am beginning to understand the arguments. Maybe that’s because of all I’ve read in the Catholic press over the years. Will church employers stop using “the ministerial exemption” to discriminate?

Related is my fourth: LGBTQ+ issues. Specifically, based on the Synod documents, now I ask: How do the bishops plan to respond to the pain caused by current theology and the experience of exclusion to people of all genders who want to remain faithful to the church? Just this week, a German bishop called for a much more complex understanding of sexuality. Will any bishop here speak out? And I just have the news that all of us can; DignityUSA announced yesterday “A Declaration of Catholic Commitment to Trans-Affirmation” which you can sign here.

I call the fifth topic the Social Gospel, and I list Racism, Poverty, Immigration, Gun Control, Death Penalty, and Nuclear War. I ask: Why are you so little involved in commenting on these issues in the public sphere? If I were gullible, I could have put above, in my first point, the issue that gets most of the bishops’ attention. It’s framed here as “Supporting Women and Families,” but it’s not about supporting women. The link is to “Building a Culture of Life in a Post-Roe World,” which came out in June for the Committee on Pro-Life Activities, and that’s what it’s about. Some of my social gospel issues are addressed in lots of reports on the agenda from agencies and committees. I still ask: Are your priorities Gospel priorities?

My sixth point is simple. I ask: When are you going to rewrite Forming Consciences for
Faithful Citizenship? It’s so deadly I’m not even going to link to it, though it did provoke the most controversy the last time it came up. That was over saying abortion is the “preeminent” issue. Even Michael Sean Winters in NCR thinks this voter handout – at 47 pages plus notes – should be redone mostly for the very reason I find it appalling: “It is like an adult at dinner cutting up the meat for their teenage child.” Why do you ask Catholics to use their consciences when voting for the US President and then proclaim the agenda of one unnamed party as the moral choice?

Finally, you ask yourselves the only question I have about Communion: Why now? My seventh concern is not my concern at all, but it seems to be yours. The “Eucharistic Revival Initiative” promotes a theology that goes back to the catechism instead of to Vatican II. Why emphasize personal devotion instead of Eucharist as the celebration of the community? I will leave aside speculations about political motivations and just remind you of what your own Synod document reports: “The liturgical and sacramental life of the Church, particularly the centrality of the Eucharist, came up continually in all the dioceses as a point of unity, essential to Catholic identity, community, and a life of faith.” How will the Eucharistic Revival support and enhance the listening community created by the Synod process?

Will any of my questions be answered? I don’t guarantee that I’ll watch the whole meeting, but I will find the live stream. Others can check out social media using the hashtag #USCCB22 and follow on Twitter (@USCCB) as well as on Facebook and Instagram. Certainly, the Bishops are modern in the use of technology; let’s hope their attitudes catch up.