Category: Diocese of Scranton News

BALTIMORE (OSV News) – The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops approved a “special pastoral message on immigration” Nov. 12, voicing “our concern here for immigrants” at their annual fall plenary assembly in Baltimore.

The statement came as a growing number of bishops have acknowledged that some of the Trump administration’s immigration policies risk presenting the church with both practical challenges in administering pastoral support and charitable endeavors, as well as religious liberty challenges.

Archbishop Richard G. Henning of Boston told OSV News in an interview that the feeling “we have to say something” on the subject of showing solidarity with immigrants has been “kind of bubbling up from the bishops.”

“Obviously, the beliefs of the church have political consequences, but they’re not political in the usual sense of the word,” he said. “And so there was a real effort to make sure that this would be a pastoral address to our people rather than an attempt to lobby.”

Despite differences in age, geography or other viewpoints, Archbishop Henning said, the U.S. bishops have almost universally heard from parishioners or pastors about “suffering the effects of this.”

“We’re pastors,” he said. “We care about the people we serve, and what we’re hearing from them is fear and suffering. So it’s hard not to want to respond to that.”

The statement, released in the late afternoon, said, “As pastors, we the bishops of the United States are bound to our people by ties of communion and compassion in Our Lord Jesus Christ.”

“We are disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement,” it said. “We are saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants. We are concerned about the conditions in detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care. We lament that some immigrants in the United States have arbitrarily lost their legal status.

“We are troubled by threats against the sanctity of houses of worship and the special nature of hospitals and schools,” it continued. “We are grieved when we meet parents who fear being detained when taking their children to school and when we try to console family members who have already been separated from their loved ones. Despite obstacles and prejudices, generations of immigrants have made enormous contributions to the well-being of our nation.

“We as Catholic bishops love our country and pray for its peace and prosperity. For this very reason, we feel compelled now in this environment to raise our voices in defense of God-given human dignity.”

The statement also refers to Catholic social teaching on immigration, which seeks to balance three interrelated principles: the right of persons to migrate in order to sustain themselves and their families; the right of a country to regulate its borders and immigration; and a nation’s duty to conduct that regulation with justice and mercy.

For example, Archbishop Henning told OSV News that “Catholic teaching doesn’t like chaos, because chaos often produces great injustice for the most vulnerable.”

“But it’s possible to go too far the other way too,” he said.

Catholic teaching “exhorts nations to recognize the fundamental dignity of all persons, including immigrants,” the statement said. “We bishops advocate for a meaningful reform of our nation’s immigration laws and procedures. Human dignity and national security are not in conflict.

“Both are possible if people of good will work together. We recognize that nations have a responsibility to regulate their borders and establish a just and orderly immigration system for the sake of the common good. Without such processes, immigrants face the risk of trafficking and other forms of exploitation. Safe and legal pathways serve as an antidote to such risks.”

The church’s teaching, it noted, “rests on the foundational concern for the human person, as created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:27).”

“As pastors, we look to Sacred Scripture and the example of the Lord Himself, where we find the wisdom of God’s compassion,” it continued. “The priority of the Lord, as the Prophets remind us, is for those who are most vulnerable: the widow, the orphan, the poor, and the stranger (Zachariah 7:10). In the Lord Jesus, we see the One who became poor for our sake (2 Corinthians 8:9), we see the Good Samaritan who lifts us from the dust (Luke 10:30–37), and we see the One who is found in the least of these (Matthew 25).

“The Church’s concern for neighbor and our concern here for immigrants is a response to the Lord’s command to love as he has loved us (John 13:34),” it said.

The message was approved by the vast majority of voting bishops and was met with a standing ovation. Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, newly elected president of the USCCB, spoke in favor of the statement from the floor, saying, “I’m strongly in support of it for the good of our immigrant brothers and sisters,” adding that the statement sought “balance” in “protecting the rights of immigrants, but also securing and calling upon our lawmakers and our administration to offer us a meaningful path of reform for our immigration system.”

According to a USCCB news release issued with the text of the statement, this “marked the first time” in 12 years the bishops’ conference “invoked this particularly urgent way of speaking as a body of bishops. The last one issued in 2013 was in response to the federal government’s contraceptive mandate.”

Details of the statement were a matter of some debate at the public session Nov. 12, with Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of Chicago suggesting the addition of language opposing “indiscriminate mass deportation.”

Others voiced concurrence but raised qualifications, like also adding “without due process,” or questioned the conference’s procedures for making an amendment at the assembly.

The added phrase was ultimately approved, and is found in the final paragraph of the message: “We oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people. We pray for an end to dehumanizing rhetoric and violence, whether directed at immigrants or at law enforcement. We pray that the Lord may guide the leaders of our nation, and we are grateful for past and present opportunities to dialogue with public and elected officials. In this dialogue, we will continue to advocate for meaningful immigration reform.”

The bishops’ concern has a reference point in existing magisterial teaching. St. John Paul II’s 1993 encyclical “Veritatis Splendor” (“Splendor of Truth”) and 1995 encyclical “Evangelium Vitae” (“The Gospel of Life”) both quote the Second Vatican Council’s teaching in “Gaudium et Spes,” that names “deportation” among various specific acts “offensive to human dignity” that “are a disgrace, and so long as they infect human civilization they contaminate those who inflict them more than those who suffer injustice, and they are a negation of the honor due to the Creator.”

St. John Paul underscored that these acts were examples of “intrinsic evil” incapable of being ordered to God or the good of the human person.

When the U.S. bishops ultimately approved the language after some debate, Archbishop Henning quipped, “The amended amendment passes.”

In his interview with OSV News after the vote, Archbishop Henning said, “It’s not an easy thing to kind of get us all moving completely in the same direction.” But he said the overwhelming support for the message showed “a fundamental unity among us.”

“I think there was a pretty powerful sense among all the bishops that what we’re experiencing on the ground in our dioceses is that there’s a great deal of suffering and confusion, and I would say even chaos,” he said. “There’s kind of arbitrariness right now, in the experience of the people, that generates pretty significant fear.”

BALTIMORE (OSV News) – The U.S. bishops have approved an updated version of their guiding document on Catholic health care, with substantial revisions that include explicit prohibitions against so-called “gender-affirming care.”.

Proposed updates to the “Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services,” or ERDs, were overwhelmingly accepted during the Nov. 12 session of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ fall 2025 plenary assembly.

The ERDs – developed in consultation with medical professionals and theologians, and regularly reviewed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops – articulate ethical standards for health care in light of church teaching, and provide authoritative guidance on moral issues encountered by Catholic health care.

Now, the seventh edition of the ERDs — endorsed by 206 bishops, with eight abstaining and seven opposing — incorporates guidance issued in 2023 by the USCCB’s Committee on Doctrine, which prohibited surgical or chemical interventions seeking to exchange or simulate the sex characteristics of a patient’s body for those of the opposite sex.

During a Nov. 11 presentation on the proposed revisions, Auxiliary Bishop James Massa of Brooklyn, New York, chair of the USCCB Committee on Doctrine, explained to the assembly that the sixth edition did not include such guidance, a “lacuna” the committee sought to address.

The USCCB’s 2023 doctrinal document and the ERDs revisions were the fruit of extensive reflection and discernment, with feedback from Catholic physicians, bioethicists and health care organizations, said Bishop Massa during the Nov. 11 presentation.

“Every phrase, every word of the ERDs received scrutiny by multiple experts from different perspectives,” he said. “We incorporated insights from all the consulting parties.”

In addition, the proposed revisions of the ERD build on “Dignitas Infinita,” the 2024 declaration on human dignity published by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

That document recounts the biblical and magisterial basis for the Catholic Church’s understanding of human dignity as inherent, since it ultimately flows from the human person’s creation “in the image and likeness of God” and redemption in Christ.

The declaration addressed “some grave violations of human dignity that are particularly relevant,” specifically poverty, war, threats to migrants, human trafficking, sexual abuse, violence against women, abortion, surrogacy, euthanasia and assisted suicide, the marginalization of people with disabilities, gender theory, sex change interventions and digital violence — a list that was not “exhaustive,” said the text.

While deploring violence and discrimination against those struggling with their gender and sexual identity, “Dignitas Infinita” reaffirmed church teaching on gender, describing sexual difference as “the greatest possible difference that exists between living beings,” which in humans “becomes the source of that miracle that never ceases to surprise us: the arrival of new human beings in the world.”

In his Nov. 11 presentation, Bishop Massa said he also had “informal consultation” with the Vatican – which had formally reviewed the 2023 doctrinal note – on the ERDs revisions.

“They did make a couple of recommendations that we include references to some of the more recent papal documents,” he said. “We have a longer quote from ‘Dignitas Infinita,’ and also something on artificial intelligence.”

Bishop Massa also said that upon USCCB approval of the ERDs revisions, individual bishops would then decide to make the ERDs document a particular law in their dioceses, or at least treat it as such without formally promulgating the text.

Speaking to OSV News ahead of the USCCB plenary, Bishop Massa observed that the directives are an “important resource” for developing pastoral letters and guidelines — one that is “very helpful to those who continue the essential work of making our anthropology and our Catholic moral teaching accessible to our people, to the faithful.”

BALTIMORE (OSV News) – Pope Leo XIV is eager and excited to enter into a dialogue with young people in America in a unique digital encounter, according to those facilitating the Nov. 21 event taking place at the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis.

On Nov. 12, the upcoming encounter was highlighted during the U.S. bishops’ fall plenary assembly by Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez of Philadelphia alongside others involved in organizing the event. Archbishop Pérez told reporters that the encounter “reflects the Holy Father’s desire to connect with young people” and it “represents a virtual visit of the Holy Father to them.”

“The Holy Father’s choice to encounter the American youth, as he will do next week, is an expression of his closeness to the youth of the world,” he added. “This historic moment will mark a powerful opportunity for young people to witness the beauty of the universal church with our Holy Father.”

During the gathering, the pope will address an expected crowd of about 15,000 young people ages 14-18. He will engage in a 45-minute dialogue with the attendees at Lucas Oil Stadium, marking the first time in history a pope has been a part of a digital encounter with American young people.

In response to a question from The Pillar regarding the degree to which the event will be an organic encounter between the young people and the pope, Archbishop Pérez noted that “the questions were discerned and then sent by the young people, and then sent to the Holy Father directly.”

“He will choose (from) those questions and maybe modify them,” the archbishop said, but “they came from a dialogue and a certain process with the young people.”

Montse Alvarado, president and chief operating officer of EWTN News, which is the event’s exclusive multicast provider, emphasized the importance of “an authentic experience” for Pope Leo and the young people “so that the Holy Father can see the young person asking him the question, and the young people can see the Holy Father in this kind of a reaction.”

NCYC is hosted by the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry. The Washington-based NFCYM, launched in 1981 with the support of the U.S. bishops, fosters collaboration among the country’s Catholic youth ministry leaders. Archbishop Pérez serves as an episcopal adviser and board member for the NFCYM.

Christina Lamas, the federation’s executive director, said the moment “shows that the church is listening, not just speaking. This encounter is not a media event, it’s a synodal moment where one universal church walks with a young church in the United States.”

In response to a question from OSV News about the event’s unique virtual Q&A format, Kenneth Gavin, communications director for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, said the event is “not virtual,” although Archbishop Pérez had referred to the event as a “virtual visit.”

Rather, Gavin said, “it is a real-time digital encounter because I think when we use the word virtual, we lose authenticity.” He added that the Holy Father is “meeting young people in a space where they spend a lot of time as digital natives, but it’s not virtual, it’s an encounter.”

In response to an OSV News question about how the idea for the format of the event came about, Christina Lamas referenced that Pope Francis had previously sent a letter to NCYC and a video message.

“This time around,” she said, “young people are digital natives. They are online, they’re on social media. And so to have our Holy Father come to them in the same space in which they are, that is very meaningful. And we talk about authenticity and we talk about in terms of being able to have that relationship, how do you convert something digital to something personal? So that idea of being able to bring our Holy Father and the young people together in a space where that could happen, that was part of the dream.”

Alvarado told OSV News that in the Sept. 6 meeting in which she and Archbishop Pérez discussed the encounter, Pope Leo “was wonderful and really encouraging.” She said it was clear that the pope “wanted to spend time” with the American youth and it was “a priority for him.”

BALTIMORE (OSV News) – The U.S. bishops have given the green light to hold the 11th National Eucharistic Congress in the summer of 2029, in a Nov. 12 vote on the final public day of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Fall Plenary Assembly.

The location of the event has not yet been made public. However, the possible cities have been narrowed down to three, according to Bishop Cozzens, and OSV News has learned that site visits have been completed and that the city announcement likely will come next spring.

The 2029 congress follows the successful 10th National Eucharistic Congress that took place July 2024 in Indianapolis, as part of the larger three-year National Eucharistic Revival.

In a presentation to the body of bishops, Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, chairman of the National Eucharistic Congress Inc., which will organize the event, said the USCCB’s Committee on Evangelization Catechesis in conjunction with Vinea Research conducted a “Revival Impact Study” looking at the fruit of the earlier effort.

He said those findings will be released later this year.

“The results of this national survey are still being finalized,” but they found “lasting fruit from the revival,” Bishop Cozzens said. Areas of impact include increased reverence for the Eucharist, an increase in youth and family engagement, and a “noticeable increase” in Eucharistic adoration, he said.

The 2029 date works around the 2027 World Youth Day in South Korea and the 2028 International Eucharistic Congress in Sydney in 2028. Bishop Cozzens said it would also help the church “build on the momentum” ahead of the 500th anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe to St. Juan Diego Cuauhtloatoatzin in Mexico in 2031.

“Brothers, I believe that the Eucharistic Revival was a great gift to our country from the Holy Spirit, and I believe that continuing the transformative, unitive events every four years can continue to stoke the fires of revival and support the incredible work that you’re already doing in your dioceses in evangelization,” Bishop Cozzens said.

No questions were asked from the floor.

Following the presentation and vote, Bishop Cozzens told OSV News that he was grateful to the bishops for their approval.

“Based on the feedback I was getting earlier, I thought that this is the way it would go. But it’s great to actually have it on the calendar so that we can go forward,” he said.

Bishop Cozzens said one of the gifts of the National Eucharistic Congress is the unity it brings the church — something he saw with the 2024 congress.

“I think we’ll experience that again in 2029,” he said. “I think it’s actually one of the gifts that the congress gives. It’s like the whole church gets together as one, and people get to see us united. And especially united around the source of our unity, which is Jesus and the Eucharist.

A theme is in progress, Bishop Cozzens said.

“I know that it will be a beautiful experience of the power of the Holy Spirit, and especially the power of evangelization when we honor Jesus and the Eucharist,” he said.

“I hope everybody comes,” Bishop Cozzens said.

Speaking of everybody, the U.S.-born Pope Leo XIV might be at the top of that invitation list. But Bishop Cozzens would not confirm whether or not the USCCB has formally issued an invitation.

“Let’s just put it this way: If the pope wants to come, we would welcome him,” Bishop Cozzens said.

The National Eucharistic Congress Inc., a nonprofit formed in 2022 to support the bishops’ vision for the congress and accompanying National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, has been a key collaborator for the revival as a whole.

Revival efforts included the development of catechetical resources and the training of both lay leaders and clergy to articulate the truth of the Eucharist and how that impacts Catholics’ lives.

April 2022 saw the commissioning of 58 Eucharistic preachers — priests formed during a retreat to give missions at parishes around the United States. It also included five National Eucharistic Pilgrimage routes, four in 2024 and an additional one in 2025.

The 2024 National Eucharistic Congress included nationally known Catholic speakers and musicians alongside opportunities for service, fellowship and varied forms of Catholic liturgies at the Indiana Convention Center and adjacent Lucas Oil Stadium. Each evening culminated in Eucharistic adoration in the stadium.

While more than 50,000 people are estimated to have attended the congress, thousands more joined for a Eucharistic procession through the streets of downtown Indianapolis — the largest of its kind in decades.

Jason Shanks, president of the National Eucharistic Congress, told OSV News the bishops’ overwhelming approval for a 2029 National Eucharistic Congress “really is a recognition of all the work the Lord has done over this revival.”

He noted there has been extensive discernment on the part of the bishops over the past year, between their conversations and examination of the impact study.

“I took it as a real positive affirmation of the fruits that we’re seeing and starting to see in the impact study,” he said.

Shanks said he’s going for “bigger and better” as they look toward 2029.

“I think there’s a lot of people that have said, ‘I wish I was there. I wish I was a part of it,'” he said. “We’re excited about it. We’re already planning for growth, not only growth in terms of numbers, but programming space and things.”

He said, “I can’t tell you the city yet, but I’m excited by where I think this is going.”

BALTIMORE (OSV News) – The faithful can expect a new edition of the Liturgy of the Hours by Easter 2027, according to Bishop Steven J. Lopes, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Divine Worship who made the announcement Nov. 11, during the bishops’ fall meeting.

To loud applause from the bishops’ assembled, Bishop Lopes, head of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, shared the news that the Vatican’s Dicastery for Divine Worship issued a decree approving the new edition of the church’s ancient daily liturgical prayer.

The Liturgy of the Hours, or the Divine Office, is the daily prayer of the church and sanctifies the day with prayer. This liturgical prayer also takes different set forms within the Latin Catholic and 23 Eastern Catholic churches that together make the worldwide Catholic Church, and each form has prayers that vary in accordance with each particular church’s calendar.

The standard Liturgy of the Hours in the Roman rite of the Latin Church is divided into five “hours” or parts prayed at different times each day: the office of readings; morning prayer or lauds; daytime prayer; evening prayer or vespers; and night prayer or compline. These five parts, which draw from Scripture, particularly the Psalms, usually take less than 20 minutes to pray.

Outgoing USCCB president Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for Military Services signed the decree of publication, moving the process to the publishers.

“It is imagined, because that’s a bit of a complicated work to produce a four-volume work like that,” Bishop Lopes said, “that the first volume to be released will be Volume Two: Lent and Easter and so that will be able to go into effect for Ash Wednesday of 2027.”

Bishop Lopes expressed his gratitude to the body of bishops for their patience and their work over “what has been a 13-year process” from when the bishops first agreed to begin work on revising the Liturgy of the Hours in November 2012 with the aim of retranslation to “more accurately reflect the original Latin texts.”

On Oct. 7, Ascension and Word on Fire Publishing announced that they had been selected as publishers for the new edition.

At the time, Word on Fire’s senior publishing director, Brandon Vogt, said that Word on Fire was honored to be selected. He told OSV News that the organization published booklets to help the lay faithful — 30,000 subscribers — in praying the Liturgy of the Hours which he called the “highest form of prayer” after the Mass and sacraments.

“The success of these booklets has positioned Word on Fire well to publish the new Liturgy of the Hours, Second Edition,” he added.

Jonathan Strate, president and CEO of Ascension, said in a press release at the time that the company was honored to serve as publishers for the new edition.

“Our goal is to create a reverent and beautiful edition that embodies the dignity of the Church’s common prayer. This new translation marks an extraordinary moment for Catholics everywhere,” he said.

Ahead of the new English edition of the Liturgy of the Hours, liturgical experts have been encouraging parishes and other Catholic communities to begin praying the Liturgy of the Hours.

While it is a required prayer for clergy, the church encourages the faithful to take it up as it is meant to “become the prayer of the whole people of God,” according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

“Sacrosanctum Concilium,” the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, encourages the laity to pray the Divine Office “either with the priests, or among themselves, or even individually.”

BALTIMORE (OSV News) – As the U.S. marks its 250th anniversary next year, the U.S. bishops will consecrate the nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The decision was taken during a Nov. 11 session of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ fall plenary assembly in Baltimore.

Ahead of the vote, Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, chair of the USCCB’s Committee for Religious Liberty, said the consecration would take place at the USCCB’s spring assembly in June 2026, which concludes on the solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

“To help Catholics prepare for the consecration, we would develop prayer resources, including a novena that will lead up to the solemnity of the Sacred Heart,” said Bishop Rhoades.

Devotion to the Sacred of Heart of Jesus, which traces its roots to at least the second century, grew during the Middle Ages and was later extended to the universal church following Christ’s revelations of his Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a 17th-century French woman religious.

Bishop Rhoades said USCCB staff are assembling resources for “dioceses, parishes and other groups to engage Catholics” during the 250th anniversary of the July 4, 1776, signing of the Declaration of Independence, through which the 13 American colonies formally separated themselves from Britain.

In preparation, a diocese might for example “invite the faithful to participate in 250 hours of adoration, or 250 works of mercy,” said Bishop Rhoades.

He pointed to the tradition behind, and aim of, such a consecration.

“One hundred years ago, in 1925, in his encyclical instituting the feast of Christ the King, Pope Pius XI — drawing on the teaching of Pope Leo XIII — referred to the pious custom of consecrating oneself, families and even nations to the Sacred Heart of Jesus as a way to recognize the kingship of Christ,” said Bishop Rhoades.

Through his final encyclical, “Dilexit Nos” (“He Loved Us”), Pope Francis “brought devotion to the Sacred Heart to the forefront of Catholic life as the ultimate symbol of both human and divine love, calling it a wellspring of peace and unity,” said Bishop Rhoades.

Pope Francis “wrote of how the Sacred Heart teaches us to build up in this world God’s kingdom of love and justice,” Bishop Rhoades said.

Pope Leo XIV, writing in his first apostolic exhortation, “Dilexi Te” (“I Have Loved You”), carried forward his predecessor’s teaching, inviting the faithful “to contemplate Christ’s love, the love that moves us to mission in our suffering world today.”

“To entrust our nation to the love and care of the Sacred Heart of Jesus as we celebrate its 250th anniversary is an opportunity to promote the beautiful devotion to the Sacred Heart among our people — and also to remind everyone of our task to serve our nation by perfecting the temporal order with the spirit of the Gospel, as taught by the Second Vatican Council,” said Bishop Rhoades.

BALTIMORE (OSV News) – The U.S. bishops’ conference has elected its next president, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City.

Archbishop Coakley was elected by a narrow margin — 54%, or 128 votes out of 237 — in a third-ballot runoff against Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, Texas, who subsequently was elected vice president of the conference on the first ballot, a fraction of a percent over the majority.

This was Archbishop Coakley’s fourth time on a ballot for the bishops’ top leadership, with an appearance on each triennial ballot since 2016. At 70, he would have been ineligible to stand for office in three years, as bishops must be able to complete a three-year term ahead of the mandatory retirement age of 75.

Since 2007, an archbishop or a cardinal has been elected conference president, and the same for those elected vice president. With the exception of 2010, the conference has elected the incumbent vice presidents to be president — at least until 2022 when now-retired Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron of Detroit was unable to run for the presidency due to age. The same proved true this year when Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, vice president since 2022, was ineligible for the presidency for the same reason.

In 2022, with Archbishop Vigneron unable to stand for office, the bishops turned to the next ranking office of conference secretary for the new president, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, who concludes his term at the conclusion of this week’s plenary. For this reason, it stood to reason for many observers that Archbishop Coakley, conference secretary since 2022, was the likely frontrunner and heir apparent in today’s election.

— Respect for precedent and custom —

Archbishop Coakley’s election signals that an unspoken but regularly respected principle of seniority has yet again been a deciding factor of the bishops’ election. While some observers pondered what effect Pope Leo might have on the election, it would appear that the adherence to custom and respect for experience that Pope Leo has expressed to-date might stick out as more prevalent than anything else.

Archbishop Coakley, a bishop since 2004, possessed the combination of length of service as a bishop and higher rank as archbishop. He served as bishop of Salina for six years ahead of his appointment to the Oklahoma capital city in 2010.

Archbishop Coakley has long been a leader within the bishops’ conference, and he has been a member of many committees. Then-bishops’ conference president Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz appointed Archbishop Coakley to serve as chairman of the Catholic Relief Services board of directors in 2013, a position he held until 2016. In 2018, Archbishop Coakley was elected to a three-year term as chairman of the conference’s Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development. He is currently a member of the Committee on Divine Worship.

After Archbishop Broglio was elected president in 2022, Archbishop Coakley twice has been elected to serve as secretary, first to fulfill Archbishop Broglio’s term, then to a term in his own right, which was to conclude 2027.

As conference secretary, Archbishop Coakley serves as chairman of the Committee on Priorities and Plans, which shapes and guides the conference’s strategic goals and is responsible for implementing its long-term vision. It was during the tenures of both Archbishop Broglio and Archbishop Coakley in this position that they became heirs apparent to conference presidency, since the tradition of elevating the outgoing vice president to the top position has been stalled by the election of two back-to-back vice presidents who were ineligible to stand for office due to age restrictions.

Other candidates on the presidential ballot proved unable to gain momentum for that office or the vice presidency. Notable for his media and evangelization fame, Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, 65, has chaired two conference committees but did not have a significant showing during the elections. There are other candidates who did not advance on the ballot, but who almost surely will see their day in leadership, like Boston’s Archbishop Richard G. Henning, 61. Archbishop Henning is a rising star in the conference, who, although head of one of the largest American dioceses, also had the least amount of episcopal experience on the ballot, as he was only ordained in 2018.

— A clear, orthodox leader —

Archbishop Coakley’s tenure as archbishop in the Oklahoma Bible Belt has seen a slight increase in Catholic population, despite a slight decrease in the overall population within his archdiocese. He also is regarded as a clear expositor of Catholic doctrine and morality.

In a state eager to employ use of the death penalty, Archbishop Coakley has been vocal in supporting alternatives and advocating against its use. In defense of life, he has been unafraid to speak out against abortion, particularly when it comes to political supporters within the church.

He is also on the record supporting the bishops’ longstanding view that opposition to abortion is a “preeminent” issue for Americans to consider when forming consciences to vote in elections. In 2024, Archbishop Coakley wrote: “Choosing a candidate who is most likely to promote a policy that respects innocent life is the primary consideration.”

In 2023, Archbishop Coakley released a pastoral letter articulating the church’s teaching on human anthropology, speaking to the threats posed by the transgender movement to individuals with gender dysphoria.

Archbishop Coakley sits on advisory bodies to many institutions and organizations, including the Institute on Religious Life. He also serves as ecclesiastical adviser of the influential and conservative Napa Institute’s executive team.

After arriving in Oklahoma City, Archbishop Coakley took the reins of the cause of canonization of Stanley Rother, an Oklahoma priest martyred in Guatemala in 1981. Archbishop Coakley has dedicated himself to promoting and preserving Rother’s rich legacy of pastoral charity and missionary zeal. In the years after Rother’s 2017 beatification, which successfully drew an estimated 20,000 people to Oklahoma’s capital, Archbishop Coakley oversaw the construction of the impressive Blessed Stanley Rother shrine, dedicated in 2023, which houses the relics of the first U.S.-born martyr.

— Vigano ‘testimony’ response —

In August 2018, after a “testimony” released by the now-excommunicated former apostolic nuncio to the U.S, Archbishop Carlo Vigano, Archbishop Coakley was among a number of bishops — including then-U.S. bishops’ conference president Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo — to call for an investigation into the record and activities of the former cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick.

Archbishop Vigano, long since discredited due to his constant stream of divisive rhetoric and promotion of conspiracy theories, had an impeccable record at the time he released his initial manifesto. Archbishop Coakley’s response to Archbishop Vigano’s testimony — along with that of many bishops — called for a “purification” of the church from the sins and crimes of the clergy sexual abuse crisis.

The strong push from a wide array of U.S. bishops in the wake of the McCarrick scandal and the release of the Pennsylvania grand jury report on abuse in several of the state’s dioceses was widely anticipated to be the impetus to bringing into effect some necessary reforms. It was squelched, however, by a motion from Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of Chicago in November 2018, when he asked bishops from the floor of the plenary assembly to give Rome time to act. The resulting product was the Vatican-implemented “metropolitan model,” the procedure of which is outlined in Pope Francis’ motu proprio “Vos estis lux mundi,” which assigns bishops to opaquely investigate their own accused of any misconduct.

— A successful compromise veep —

Looking ahead, custom now positions Bishop Flores of Brownsville, a close runner-up to Archbishop Coakley, to be frontrunner for the USCCB presidency in three years.

A bishop since 2006, Bishop Flores served previously as an auxiliary in Detroit from 2006 to 2009. He ranked third in seniority on the ballot for top conference officers. That Bishop Flores has not yet been elevated to a more prominent see has been a surprise to many, especially as he was widely speculated to be a possible successor to Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo in Galveston-Houston before now-Archbishop Joe S. Vasquez was assigned there early this year. His election as vice president could signal to Rome his support among the body of bishops and position him better for an elevation in the years ahead.

Bishop Flores is widely viewed as a successful compromise candidate, a moderate backed by a consensus, with strong intellectual chops. A Thomist by training, Bishop Flores is a regular speaker at a variety of events and conferences — including as a regular homilist at USCCB events — invitations that speak to his broad appeal and wide-ranging talents.

Located on the U.S.-Mexico border, Bishop Flores is well-positioned to be able to offer a strong voice in support of the pastoral care of migrants now on the national level. Bishop Flores also has experience helping the church engage with and implement the synodal path, as he oversaw the synod process in recent years on behalf of the USCCB, as well as in the continental synodal process and in the two Synods on Synodality in Rome.

In the days ahead of this week’s election, Bishop Flores’ candidacy garnered wide support, including from the conference’s more progressive bishops, signaling that he doesn’t fall into typical ideological camps..

While the election of Archbishop Coakley and Bishop Flores to the top spots of the U.S. bishops’ conference draws attention to the needs of the church in the growing American south, it also signifies a growing inability for the bishops to select a leader by an overwhelming majority. Even though Bishop Flores was successfully elected vice president on the first ballot, it’s noteworthy that he only earned 119 votes out of 234.

The days when USCCB leadership elections yielded victories by margins more than 70% on the first ballot — such as with Cardinal Francis George, formerly of Chicago, in 2010 and Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles, in 2019 — seem increasingly rare. It might also mean that Archbishop Coakley and Bishop Flores have their work cut out for them when it comes to helping Pope Leo advance the mission of unity he has been clearly articulating since the earliest days of his pontificate.

BALTIMORE (OSV News) – Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, urged the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Nov. 11 to take further steps to show solidarity with migrants in remarks at their annual fall plenary assembly in Baltimore.

Bishop Seitz, who has chaired the conference’s Committee on Migration, said that “since January, the Trump administration has remained committed to the president’s campaign promise of mass deportations.”

His remarks Nov. 11 came as a growing number of bishops have acknowledged that some of the Trump administration’s immigration policies risk presenting the church with both practical challenges in administering pastoral support and charitable endeavors, as well as religious liberty challenges.

“This has been accompanied by policy changes that are intimidating and dehumanizing the immigrants in our midst, regardless of how they came to be here,” Bishop Seitz said. “The repeated rhetoric about an approach to enforcement focused on terrorists, dangerous criminals and those with final orders of removal has largely been contradicted by several actions: This includes the detention of those attending their immigration court hearings, the targeting of international students and even the circumvention of protections for unaccompanied children, among others.”

“This unyielding commitment to mass deportation,” Bishop Seitz argued, as well as “curtailing legal immigration,” and deportations to “third countries completely unfamiliar to them,” make clear “this is just the beginning.”

“As pastors devoted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we know statements alone are not enough,” Bishop Seitz said.

The migration committee, its staff and its partners are among those working on a new effort “to actively support our immigrant brothers and sisters consistent with the conference’s identity,” he said.

The initiative, titled “You Are Not Alone,” will focus “on four thematic areas of ministry, emergency and family support, accompaniment and pastoral care, communications and church teaching, and fourthly, solidarity through prayer and public witness,” he said.

“While we hope this initiative will support new and expanded efforts throughout the country,” he said. “We know our church has been accompanying newcomers throughout the country, newcomers to this land, since before our country’s founding.”

Referring to his recent meeting with Pope Leo XIV, Bishop Seitz added, “As our Holy Father himself stated clearly last month, the church cannot be silent.”

Bishop Seitz did express optimism about resolving a backlog in visas for immigrant religious workers.

“With the attention being given to this situation by the Secretary of State (Marco) Rubio and others, we are hopeful to see positive developments in the very near future, we’re very optimistic,” he said.

In comments to OSV News after his speech, Bishop Seitz added, “Well, you know, there have been a lot of times when we were very hopeful, but I don’t think I’ve heard this level of optimism before, and their hope is that within a week, we might get a new rule that will allow them to shorten tremendously, the amount of time they have to stay outside the country.”

Catholic social teaching on immigration seeks to balance three interrelated principles: the right of persons to migrate in order to sustain themselves and their families, the right of a country to regulate its borders and immigration, and a nation’s duty to conduct that regulation with justice and mercy.

(OSV News) – In the lead-up to Pope Leo XIV’s Nov. 15 meeting with a group of Hollywood actors and directors, the Vatican offered an insight into the American-born pontiff’s cinematic taste by publishing a short list of his favorite films. Despite its brevity, the collection of four movies covers quite a lot of thematic and tonal territory.

The quartet starts off with a holiday classic from Tinseltown’s golden age that presents viewers with a ringing affirmation of the value of a life well lived. In somewhat the same vein, it also includes a mostly lighthearted, fact-based musical about the formation of a family singing group.

But weightier dramas are not neglected. In fact, the catalogue is rounded out by the tale of a family tragedy and its emotional fallout as well as a study of paternal love set against the harrowing cruelty of the Holocaust.

Below, in alphabetical order, are capsule reviews of the pictures highlighted by Pope Leo together with their OSV News classifications and, where applicable, their Motion Picture Association ratings.

“It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946)

Seasonal favorite about the joys and trials of a good man (James Stewart) who, facing financial ruin on the eve of Christmas, contemplates suicide until his guardian angel (Henry Travers) shows him how meaningful his life has been to those around him. Director Frank Capra’s unabashedly sentimental picture of mainstream American life is bolstered by a superb cast (including Lionel Barrymore as a conniving banker) and a wealth of good feelings about such commonplace virtues as hard work and helping one’s neighbor. Young children may find the story’s dark moments unsettling. The OSV News classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. Not rated by the Motion Picture Association.

“Life Is Beautiful” (1998)

Bittersweet comic fable in which an Italian Jewish bookseller (Roberto Benigni) uses his imagination to convince his little son that their grim existence in a Nazi concentration camp is just an elaborate contest and that they are sure to win the grand prize. Also co-written and directed by Benigni, the story starts off as a slapstick comedy with the young man courting his future wife, then midway becomes a touchingly human story of a parent’s irrepressible determination to protect his child from terror and misery. Theme of genocide. The OSV News classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

“Ordinary People” (1980)

Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore give fine performances as confused and troubled parents trying to cope with the psychological aftershocks that result when the older of two sons dies in a boating accident and the surviving son (Timothy Hutton) attempts suicide. Directed by Robert Redford, the movie hints that the characters’ complacent and wholly materialistic environment may have contributed to the family’s instability, but these aspects remain underdeveloped. The problems are very real yet the movie is strangely cool and distanced from them. Due to the heaviness of the theme and some instances of rough language, it’s best for mature viewers. The OSV News classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

“The Sound of Music” (1965)

Particularly fine screen version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical about the formative years of the Trapp Family Singers in Austria between the two world wars. Its interesting story, solid cast (headed by Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer), lovely music and intelligent lyrics, colorful scenery and pleasant fantasy will entertain the mind and enliven the spirit. Directed by Robert Wise, the movie has held up over the years as thoroughly refreshing family entertainment. The OSV News classification is A-I — general patronage. The Motion Picture Association rating is G — general audiences. All ages admitted.

BALTIMORE (OSV News) – The U.S. bishops voted overwhelmingly Nov. 11 to support the advancement of a canonization cause for Jesuit Father Richard Thomas.

The agenda item was presented by Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance. He was joined in the presentation by Bishop Peter Baldacchino of Las Cruces, New Mexico, the diocese in which Father Thomas died on May 8, 2006.

The bishops’ consultation is a necessary step ahead of formally opening a canonization cause.

This milestone in advancing Father Thomas’ cause comes just a month after release of Pope Leo XIV’s first apostolic letter, “Dilexi Te,” which outlines the church’s rationale for and record of service to the poor. Father Thomas’ life reflects many of the stories of saints and holy figures to whom Pope Leo’s letter draws attention. Father Thomas is being raised up as a model at the same time that U.S. bishops are drawing attention to the ongoing crisis involving immigrants in the United States.

While calls for Father Thomas’ canonization have continued since his death, formal steps began in 2011, after the mandatory five-year waiting period following an individual’s death. In 2012, formal permission was granted to publish devotional materials with a prayer seeking Father Thomas’ intercession.

Bishop Baldacchino noted that “countless” individuals in Mexico and the U.S. have devotion to Father Thomas, and that miracles attributed to his intercession are being reported and documented.

Auxiliary Bishop Peter L. Smith of Portland, Oregon, spoke highly of Father Thomas and remarked about the miracles that were a regular occurrence in his ministry. In supporting the advancement of Father Thomas’ causes, Bishop Smith noted, “He was always very joyful, and faith just radiated from him.”

“Father Rick,” as he was affectionately known, dedicated his life to service of the poor, and credited his vocation and work to a variety of spiritual experiences. He entered the Jesuit order in 1945 and was ordained a priest in San Francisco in 1958.

Father Thomas arrived in El Paso, Texas, in 1964, taking over Our Lady’s Youth Center, which at the time included employment and credit resources, youth athletic teams, English classes, and meals for neighboring children. During his tenure, the center’s work was expanded to include medical and dental clinics, schools, ministries to the sick and imprisoned, and food banks.

Early on in his tenure at the center, Father Thomas experienced discouragement from not seeing any real progress in alleviating poverty. But Father Thomas came to understand God’s presence and action in the midst of the poverty and suffering around him. “When I began to hear that God was doing things, you know, I said, ‘Well I want part of that,'” he said in an undated interview posted on YouTube. Father Thomas was known for his own simple living quarters, desiring to share in the conditions of those to whom he ministered.

Working as a horse trainer in high school, Father Thomas experienced a strong call from God to be a priest — a surprise as he “never wanted to be one,” he said. But about a decade into ordained ministry, Father Thomas viewed his own priesthood to be “rather stale,” before he experienced his own personal Pentecost experience at a charismatic prayer service. After being prayed over at the gathering, he woke up in the middle of the night “in deep prayer” that he had not experienced “in a long time.”

Father Thomas dedicated himself to social work after the model of the Good Samaritan, saying in the interview, “I think this is what will spread God’s kingdom on earth, when we’re all Good Samaritans.” He believed strongly that people experience Jesus Christ in a special way when serving the poor.

One of the fruits of the charismatic renewal begun at Our Lady’s Youth Center was a Christmas dinner in 1972 organized for hundreds of poor at a garbage dump across the U.S.-Mexico border in Juarez, Mexico. Father Thomas was dumbfounded at how much food was leftover given what little he had to begin with.

“Then we realized God worked sovereignly there … in such a visible way,” he said. From this experience, Father Thomas established, as an extension of his center, a “garbage dump ministry” that eventually bore fruit in a host of ways, from creative business endeavors to clinics and a daycare.

Father Thomas eventually expanded the work of his center to New Mexico, where, about 30 miles away from El Paso, he purchased a ranch in 1975. The ranch grew into an active farm and dairy. About a year later, he established a food bank for the underprivileged and elderly in Juarez.

Over the years, Father Thomas and his work were frequently featured in the media. French theologian Father René Laurentin, a notable advisor at the Second Vatican Council, visited Father Thomas, the fruit of which was two books about Father Thomas and his ministries. One was only published in French, and the other is now out of print. Canadian journalist Richard Dunstan also authored two books on Father Thomas, including a 2018 biography “A Poor Priest for the Poor: The Life of Father Rick Thomas S.J.”

While Father Thomas, in addition to a few occasions for arrest on account of his advocacy, received many accolades and awards throughout his life, his cause’s website states that “the only award he was interested in was to hear the Lord say, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant … come and share your Master’s joy’ (Mt 25:23).”

“We believe he heard those words,” it says.