In a surprising upset, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, holding their fall meeting in Baltimore, Archbishop Timothy Dolan has been elected as president of the conference. Historically, the USSCB has elected the current vice president to the position of president. The current vice president was Tucson Bishop Gerald Kicanas.
It took 3 ballots for the bishops to decide. On the first ballot, Kicanas received 104 votes. Dolan received 84. Chaput received 20. On the second ballot, Dolan received 118; Kicanas received 111, Chaput received 4. On the third ballot, Dolan received 128, Kicanas received 111. It’s only the second time in history that a sitting vice-president has not been elected as president.
Said Archbishop Dolan, “No one runs for this office. As bishops, we’re concerned with what’s going on in our own dioceses. No one seeks this office. My brother bishops elected me.”
In the election for vice-president, after numerous ballots, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Ky. won with 147 votes, and Archbishop Charles Chaput getting 91 votes.
Comments
Post a Comment
I don’t know if I should congratulate the good archbishop or offer my condolences.
I’m very happy he has the spot, but I know there will be many serious, new obligations that fall on his shoulders.
Lord, keep your servant strong!
Praise the Holy Spirit!
The right man for this postion.Archbishop Dolan is fearless and exactly what the Holy Spirit prescribed for Our Church. I couldn’t be more pleased as the Church in the United States struggles to preserve our Catholic heritage and teachings. What better person then Archbishop Dolan to lead us in the direction of faithfulness to all the Church proclaims and teaches. Yes I say the Holy Spirit is still very much in control! God Bless Archbishop Dolan and thank you Jesus!
What a beautiful correction - hopefully the sign of a new direction for the USCCB. Archbishop Chaput would have been an excellent choice alos. Perhaps there is a chance that the USCCB will rid itself of the CCHD arm of the like of George Soros and the Socialist Democrat Party. We might even get an honest, unequivocal expression of Catholic teaching in the Faithful Citizenship document for the 2012 election, rather than the ambiguous repetition of what amounts to a “pro-choice” direction to Catholic voters.
That way the faithful orthodox Bishops won’t have to scramble to issue their own statements to counter a false, deliberate ambiguous statement in 2010.
Tim,
Thanks for your courageous leadership in raising the issue of Bishop Kicanas’ suitability to be president of the conference when it would undermine, at least symbolically, the Church’s commitment to rid the Church of those who would harm the young and basically also bring with it the reality that every story about the Church would include a reference to Bishop Kicanas’ approving Daniel McCormack for holy orders.
It seemed unlikely that the conference would buck precedent and not elect Bishop Kicanas. Thanks be to God, they did. Thankfully, too, they elected a great new public face and leader of the Church in the US in Archbishop Dolan.
This was the fruit of a lot of prayer, a lot of work behind the scenes, and also courageous articles like yours. Thanks — and congratulations!
Habemus Presidenta
Deo gratias!
It’s good that Abp. Dolan was selected for the presidency, but:
Given Bp. Kicanas’s record, as Tim Drake reported, why did 111 bishops vote for him as president? For that matter, why did any bishops vote for him as president?
The long night of darkness within the USCCB is finally over. . . the light of the social Kingship of Jesus Christ is returning to the US Catholic Church! It is our continued prayer that the teachings of the Magesterium will return to those errant colleges and universities who have been “Catholic” in name only. Archbishops Dolan, Kurtz, and Chaput, et al., will still have to beware of the liberal bishop wolves that remain within the USCCB. May God grant this to be only the beginning of the renaissance of the entire Catholic Church.
Thank you, Holy Spirit! Thank you, Tim Drake, for your excellent coverage.
Now we have a “Tea Party Church”
spirit of the times—more than Spirit of the Lord.
Sad—
All I can say is YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA ........
and THANK YOU LORD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Let us Pray that Archbishop Dolan now recognizes the difference between a group that is in accord with the Magisterium’s teaching and one that is not and that he has the courage to tell all those groups that are not in accord with the Magisterium to cease and desist.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt0Dp00SZg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_j-rTqlZus
I am so happy that Archbishop Dolan got this position. He will not be afraid to speak out on things that need to be and will be faithful to the Magesterium of the Church.
Yea! Yea! Yea! And we can see the Spirit is leading. We need this kind of leadership in the Church in America.
Praise God.
And thanks, Tim for taking the heat on the blog you wrote earlier. I pray that more Catholics stick their necks out for truth. It does mean sometimes we get stomped on, but also that we are working for the Kingdom.
God bless you, Tim.
And God bless our new President Archbishop Dolan.
Hey- I bet the pope is really proud of the American council.
Praise be to Jesus Christ! May His servant, Archbishop Dolan, be given an abundance of special graces from the Lord to do His work.
Let’s remember, though, that each local bishop is in charge of his own diocese.
Let’s not expect Archbishop Dolan to go knocking on the doors of the many “not so prolife” bishops and demand that they change immediately. It’s not going to happen.
The new springtime of John Paul II is coming…closer now than ever! Let us pray and fast for this faithful man of God!
Post a Comment
By submitting this form, you give The National Catholic Register permission to publish this comment. Comments will be published at our discretion, and may be edited for clarity and length. For best formatting, please limit your response to one paragraph and don't hit "enter" to force line breaks.