Rhetorical question - then what the heck is he doing as a bishop, much less being elected as President of the USCCB?!?!
Rhetorical question, as I said. I think I already know the answer. More and more it seems there are two Catholic churches, the one I fell in love with and crossed over the Tiber to be a part of - the one of the great Fathers, Doctors, Saints, Our Mother, etc. And the other one, which is pretty much like the ECUSA - the "religous" wing of the Democratic Party.
"Cloudy memory" of a priest abusing kids under his watch while he did nothing?!?!?!?!? Don't even get me started!!!!!!!! I'll bet his memory is "cloudy!"
Calm down .. relax .. sit back .. smile .. WE are the church. Unlike ECUSA, these bishops have no power to change anything. The bishops' president does not set policy, but represents U.S. bishops to the Vatican and acts as chief spokesman for the American church, among other duties. Here's the meeting's agenda (compliments of CNN):
In addition to the leadership question, Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was scheduled to provide an update on the work of the bishops' Catholics in public life task force.
The bishops have spent many months publicly debating whether they should deny Communion to dissenting Catholic lawmakers. The issue arose when Democrat John Kerry, a Catholic who backs abortion rights, became his party's nominee for president and St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke said he would withhold the sacrament from the Massachusetts senator.
At the bishops' meeting last June, the task force released a statement criticizing Catholic politicians who support abortion rights, while affirming church law that individual bishops can determine how to respond to candidates.
Separately, the bishops will consider starting a multiyear initiative aimed at strengthening marriage, as the divorce rate remains high and gays lobby for the right to wed, which the church opposes.
Church leaders also will decide whether to join the broadest alliance of Christians ever formed in the United States. The group, called Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A., would include evangelicals, mainline Protestants, Orthodox Christians and Catholics.
The group hopes to collectively represent Christian views on different issues. Catholic churches in other countries belong to similar interdenominational organizations.
Although the abuse crisis has dominated bishops' meetings in the past two years, the issue will take up little of their public agenda this week.
The newest appointees to the National Review Board, the lay watchdog panel bishops formed to oversee their national policy on combatting abuse, are expected be introduced. And the bishops will be asked to authorize collecting data on new abuse claims in dioceses.
Skylstad had already served three years as conference vice president and every vice president who has sought the presidency has won.