Liturgy, immigration, marriage top topics for bishopsPosted: 06.23.09 | Updated: 06.29.09 
Bishops celebrate Mass at San Fernando Cathedral in San Antonio June 17 before the start of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ spring meeting. ORLANDO | Liturgical matters, immigration reform and same-sex marriage were among the topics discussed by the U.S. bishops in public sessions at their June 17-19 spring meeting in San Antonio, Texas. But the bishops also devoted time – in executive session – to the recent controversy over the University of Notre Dame’s decision to award an honorary degree to U.S. President Barack Obama. They emerged from the meeting with a two-sentence affirmation of Bishop John M. D’Arcy of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind., for his “pastoral concern” for the university. “The full support that the bishops gave to Bishop D’Arcy regarding his position on the Notre Dame situation was a strong affirmation of their policies regarding the sanctity of human life, which can never be compromised,” Bishop Gerald M. Barbarito of the Palm Beach Diocese told the Florida Catholic. He was one of three Florida bishops who responded to the newspaper’s request for comment when they returned home from the meeting. The only two liturgical texts receiving definitive approval from the bishops in San Antonio were a Spanish-language Lectionary and a Mass in Thanksgiving for the Gift of Human Life. Both now go to the Vatican for confirmation. “The approval of the Mass in Thanksgiving for the Gift of Human Life underlines the power of prayer in regard to all efforts to protect the sanctity of life,” Bishop Barbarito said. “The bishops’ approval of a Spanish Sacramentary for our country was another important result of the meeting, as this will be a further assistance to ministering to the Hispanic population which is such a vital part of the faith life of our country.” Five sections of the Roman Missal being prepared for use in English-speaking countries failed to get the necessary two-thirds votes of the Latin-rite U.S. bishops during the meeting. The vote will remain inconclusive until the bishops who did not attend the meeting can be polled by mail, a process expected to take several weeks. Though the results of the preliminary voting were not revealed, Auxiliary Bishop Felipe Estévez of the Archdiocese of Miami seemed confident the translations, as currently revised, would be approved. “Everybody realizes that there are significant improvements, but a group would like to have even more improvements. It’s a question of judgment. You want the very best, say 40 or so bishops. But the majority says let’s walk forward with what we have,” he said. On immigration reform, Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago wrote on behalf of the full U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to urge President Barack Obama and Congress to enact comprehensive reform before the end of 2009. “The bishops have been solidly behind these efforts for the past several years – and as pastors we are acutely aware of the suffering that the present inadequate and antiquated laws have caused in many families throughout our nation,” said Orlando Bishop Thomas Wenski. “As bishops we are committed to advancing the dignity of the human person and our advocacy on behalf of thousands of immigrants who seek legal avenues to residency and citizenship is done precisely to promote the dignity of the human person.” Bishop Estévez concurred. “Everybody knows the bishops want immigration reform. We want it in the first term of the administration.” Why? “The number of families that are suffering because of the fear, the perplexity of so many, that they could be arrests at any time. The impact that has on their children. Many of their children are Americans. The situation it creates of damaging relations between families,” Bishop Estévez explained. Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on Defense of Marriage, reported to his fellow bishops about the challenges in meeting their priority focus on marriage, especially the quick rate at which states and courts have been taking up legislation that legalizes same-sex marriage or prohibits it. Six states now recognize marriage between same-sex couples, Archbishop Kurtz said, and others are considering the same type of laws or a range of others “allowing everything but marriage,” that would give new legal rights to civil unions. “The gains that advocates of same-sex marriage have made are deeply troubling,” Bishop Wenski said. “For the sake of the integrity of the family and traditional marriage, we need not only to oppose further efforts either through the legislature or judiciary to promote same-sex marriage, but we also need to help our priests, and through them our people, to understand and articulate better the Christian anthropology that along with natural law underpins our understanding of marriage as a permanent union between one man and one woman necessary for human flourishing.” Linda Reeves, Ana Rodriguez-Soto, Tanya Goodman and Denise O’Toole Kelly of the Florida Catholic staff, and Catholic News Service contributed to this story.
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