Archbishop Dolan elected President of the USCCB!!

Wow... talk about upsets... at least in so far as one can be had in the world of Catholicism.

Here is the report from the American Papist:

In a stunning (and welcome) upset, the assembled bishops of the United States elected Archbishop Timothy Dolan to be the President of the USCCB for the next three years. Here is how the ballots played out…

On the first vote, Bp. Kicanas led the count with 104, Abp. Dolan – 84, Abp. Chaput – 20.

On the second vote, Abp. Chaput’s supporters went mostly for Dolan: Abp. Dolan 118 – Kicanas 111.

By the third vote, it was all over: Abp. Dolan 128 - Bp. Kicanas 111.

Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville was also elected as vice president.

This is a very encouraging development and if you want to know why I am so pleased by it, read what I wrote earlier about the Kicanas conundrum. A big thank you to all who joined me in praying for the best outcome. Praise be to God and the Holy Spirit.

This is a good thing for the USCCB. (On a personal note: I think Chaput or Vigneron would have been a stronger voice, this is still a good thing.) This situation also shows us why selecting the next Pope is private. We dont need to know, nor does it do us any good to know the way the votes went down. As you can tell from this situation, all sorts of lines were drawn. 

So it will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next three years. Many of us have lots of issues with the way that the USCCB conducts itself. Big issues loom large: The New Missal Translation, CCHD, etc... 

Why was this election so big? Well, because what it says about the direction of the American Catholic Church. The NY Times summarizes it as follows:

It is the first time since the 1960s that a sitting vice president was on the ballot for conference president and lost. The outcome is the latest sign that the American bishops — divided over how best to uphold Roman Catholic orthodoxy — favor a more aggressive approach.

They actually seem to be spot on. 


Cardinal George summarized the results in this fashion:

"It means the bishops have decided to opt for a confident Catholicism," George said. "They had a choice, and they chose the boldest, most outspoken bishop. You wouldn't choose him as your leader unless you thought what he was doing in the capital of the world (New York) is what we want the church to represent." [Link]

Let's hope that Dolan is the boldest Bishop that could be in there. Let's pray that the USCCB will become the staunch center of orthodoxy for American Catholics. 

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