The outgoing head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops vigorously defended the bishops’ opposition to the health care reform bill, asserting that only bishops can speak for the church on matters of faith and morals.
“All the rest is opinion,” Cardinal Francis George of Chicago said on Monday (Nov. 15), “often well-considered and important opinion that deserves a careful and respectful hearing, but still opinion.”
George’s three-year presidential term ends Tuesday, when the bishops will elect his successor.
Actually, anything other than a doctrinal definition by one of the 8 truly ecumenical councils is an opinion.
yeah, well that’s YER opinion! 😉
#1 is mostly correct. The USCCB has no real magisterial authority. It serves as the public voice for Catholics in the United States. It produces statements that offer a Catholic opinion. However, if a statement is endorsed by a unanimous vote of the member bishops it does carry general authoritative weight. Otherwise, individual Catholics are expected to turn to their own bishops for guidance. Of note, yesterday the USCCB broke with tradition and for the first time did not elect the sitting vice-president to be the president. Instead of the darling of liberal Catholics, Bishop Kicanas, the bishops elected Archbishop Dolan of New York as their president. They also elected a very orthodox bishop to be the new vice-president, Bishop Kurtz of Louisville. This is not sitting well with those who call themselves liberal or progressive Catholics. The dissident Jesuit, Fr. Reese of Georgetown, lamented, “This is a signal that the conference wants to be a leader in the culture wars. The two vice-presidential finalists were the two most conservative on the ballot. That says something about where this conference is going.â€
The USCCB as such has no authority; but the member bishops do and as the authority for teaching faith and morals in their respective dioceses Cardinal George is right.
Also, completely awesome that Abp. Dolan is the new president of the USCCB and Bishop Kicanas is out.