Upcoming assembly to elect new leadership of US Catholic bishops’ conference

Washington D.C., Sep 16, 2010 / 23:01 pm

The Fall General Assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will take place Nov. 15-18 at the Baltimore Marriot Waterfront Hotel. The assembled bishops will elect a new conference president and vice president, the chairmen of six committees and a treasurer.

Nominees for the USCCB treasurer are Bishops Paul J. Bradley of Kalamazoo and Michael J. Bransfield of Wheeling-Charleston.

Candidates to head the Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance are Archbishop for the Military Services Timothy Broglio and Bishop of Reno Randolph R. Calvo.

Possible new chairmen of the Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs are Bishop of Lexington Ronald W. Gainer and Auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore Denis J. Madden.

For the Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, the candidates are Bishops Paul Coakley of Salina and David L. Ricken of Green Bay.

Bishop of Brooklyn Nicholas DiMarzio and Archbishop of Baltimore Edwin F. O’Brien are the candidates for the Committee on International Justice and Peace. Bishop R. Daniel Conlon of Steubenville and Bishop of Amarillo Patrick J. Zurek are the nominees for the Committee on Child and Youth Protection.

The Fall General Assembly will also elect the next president and vice-president of the USCCB. The nominees for these posts will be chosen at the assembly.

Cardinal Francis George, the Archbishop of Chicago, is the current USCCB president, and Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of Tucson, Arizona is presently the conference’s vice-president. Traditionally the sitting vice president is elected as the conference's next president, but nothing is certain until the actual vote takes place.