US Bishops’ 2016 Fall Assembly: Voter Guide Prioritized

Anti-Porn and Refugee Statements Also Highlighted at Baltimore Meeting

BALTIMORE — Revisions to the U.S. bishops’ 2016 voter guide, approval of a new pastoral statement on pornography, and a strong statement of support for continued acceptance of Syrian refugees, despite the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris, were among the features of the U.S. bishops’ 2016 fall assembly in Baltimore.

The bishops discussed and approved a new introductory note and a limited revision to their quadrennial statement on political responsibility, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.” The revised voter guide, which is reissued the calendar year before a U.S. presidential election, features some new language around issues of public concern for Catholics.

The drafters of the revisions largely retained the organization of the previous text, referencing a number of key issues, such as abortion and euthanasia, as “intrinsic evils” that must always be opposed by Catholic voters and opting for strong language reflecting the Church’s firm opposition to same-sex “marriage.” 

Since the last U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ voter guide was approved in 2007, “marriage equality” has become the law of the land, courtesy of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell decision last June; and religious-freedom concerns have sparked alarm within the conference, with a slew of Catholic nonprofits filing lawsuits against the Health and Human Services’ contraceptive mandate that will be decided by the Supreme Court by June 2016.

Indeed, not only are the bishops concerned about protecting the right of Catholics and other religious believers to oppose changes to the nation’s marriage laws, they fear that newly proposed anti-discrimination statutes that would include gender equality and transgender people could pose additional problems.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston echoed this caution, and his strong defense of the document’s continued emphasis on key moral concerns with policy consequences drew applause from the floor during the debate over the revisions.

Immediately beforehand, Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego had challenged the decision by the USCCB drafting committee to retain language that gave special weight to Church leaders’ opposition to “intrinsic evils” without giving equal value to anti-poverty concerns.

Bishop McElroy called for a broader revision of the document to better reflect Pope Francis’ direction for the Church.

“Alongside the issues of abortion and euthanasia, which are central issues in our effort to transform this world, poverty and the degradation of the earth are also central. But this document keeps to the structure of the worldview of 2007,” he charged.

However, the bishops subsequently voted overwhelmingly in favor of the document, as submitted by the committee, by a margin of 217-16 (with two abstentions) in support of the voter guide’s new introductory note, and 210-21 (with five abstentions) in support of the limited revisions to the remaining text. 

After the votes, Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kan., told the Register that the bishops saw a clear need to keep their focus on life and marriage issues, while stepping up their advocacy on religious freedom.

“Just because five justices said same-sex marriage was legal, we can’t just accept that. Like our approach to abortion, we need to work to change the consensus,” said Archbishop Naumann.

“If we are not advocating out there, we can be marginalized very quickly,” he said, noting that public officials, business owners and Catholic institutions would all be under increasing pressure to violate their moral and religious beliefs.

Also on Nov. 17, the bishops overwhelmingly approved another of the fall assembly’s key initiatives — the USCCB’s new pastoral statement “Create in Me a Clean Heart: A Pastoral Response to Pornography.” The statement, formulated under the direction of the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth, is the first formal document issued by the USCCB focused exclusively on a pastoral response to pornography’s production and use.

“My brother bishops’ approval of this statement shows our collective concern for the widespread problem of pornography in our culture today,” Bishop Richard Malone of Buffalo, N.Y., chairman of the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth, said in a press release.

Added Bishop Malone, “As the statement says, virtually everyone is affected by pornography in some way. So many people — including within the Church — are in need of Christ’s abundant mercy and healing. My hope is that the statement can serve as a foundation and catalyst for increased pastoral attention to this challenge at the national and local level.”

Both the pastoral document on pornography and the revision to the “Faithful Citizenship” guide were top priorities for the bishops in advance of the assembly, but a Nov. 17 statement regarding Syrian refugees was a late addition, provoked by the Nov. 13 terror attacks in Paris.

Following those attacks, opposition to the Obama administration’s program to resettle Syrian refugees intensified in the wake of reports that some of the Paris terrorists might have entered Europe in recent weeks as part of the rush of refugees flooding into the continent. Republicans in Congress and many state governors have called for the plan to be reconsidered, on the grounds that it might elevate the risk of terrorism in the U.S. by allowing entry to Islamic State jihadists masquerading as legitimate refugees.

In the statement, Bishop Eusebio Elizondo, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Migration, condemned the attacks and expressed support “to all who are working to ensure such attacks do not occur again — both in France and around the world.

“I am disturbed, however, by calls from both federal and state officials for an end to the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the United States,” he stated. “These refugees are fleeing terror themselves — violence like we have witnessed in Paris. They are extremely vulnerable families, women and children, who are fleeing for their lives. We cannot and should not blame them for the actions of a terrorist organization.”

Bishop Elizondo noted that a stringent screening process is in place to prevent terrorists from infiltrating into the U.S. refugee process. “Instead of using this tragedy to scapegoat all refugees, I call upon our public officials to work together to end the Syrian conflict peacefully, so the close to 4 million Syrian refugees can return to their country and rebuild their homes,” he said in the statement. “Until that goal is achieved, we must work with the world community to provide safe haven to vulnerable and deserving refugees who are simply attempting to survive.”

During the Nov. 16-20 assembly, the U.S. bishops also elected new chairmen of several USCCB committees, including Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia as the chairman of the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth and Archbishop José Gomez as chairman of the Committee on Migration. 

The bishops also elected Msgr. Brian Bransfield, a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, who holds a doctorate in moral theology from the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, as the USCCB’s new general secretary.

In addition, the bishops approved revised strategic priorities for the conference’s 2017-2020 planning cycle. The five specified priorities are evangelization; family and marriage; human life and dignity; vocations and ongoing formation; and religious freedom.

 

Register staff contributed to this report.