The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) congregated for the Fall General Assembly hosted in Baltimore, Maryland from November 11th-13th. The Conference is an organization of American bishops, priests, deacons and laypeople dedicated to promoting the greater good that the Church offers through services and programs of the apostolate. On the morning of November 12th, the USCCB elected a new president, vice president, conference secretary, chairman of the Committee for Religious Liberty, and five chairmen-elect of other committees.
The new USCCB President is Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, who before being elected served as the USCCB Vice President. Gomez was elected on the first ballot and was largely expected to be chosen, as every vice president in modern USCCB history (besides the anomaly of Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York in 2010) has attained the presidency. Gomez is also the first ever Latino USCCB President.
“I just wanted to be a priest,” Gomez said to Catholic News Agency in reference to his election. “Somehow God wanted me to do what I am doing, and I’m just counting on the grace of God to be able to be faithful to what God is asking me to do.”
Gomez, born in Monterrey, Mexico in 1951, was ordained to the priesthood in 1978 within the Opus Dei prelature. Soon after, he went to Spain to earn his doctorate in sacred theology in 1980 from the University of Navarra. Gomez, a naturalized U.S. citizen, has served the Church in America as a Texan priest, an auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Denver, and the Archbishop of San Antonio, the Coadjutor Archbishop of Los Angeles, and the Archbishop of Los Angeles. He was elected Vice President of the USCCB in November 2016 after serving on the Committee on Migration, the Committee on Catechesis, and the Committee on Doctrine, among others. In his years as a clergyman, Gomez has focused on evangelization, promoting lay leadership, and reaching out to the Latin American community, along with other initiatives.
Gomez said, “I think it is clear that we need to find a way to get across the beautiful message of the Catholic faith. The fact that we are children of God, that God really cares about us, that we are also called to love God and love one another.” “The main issue [the Church is facing] is the New Evangelization and how to continue what Pope Francis is asking us to do in [Pope Francis’ 2013 apostolic exhortation] ‘The Joy of the Gospel’.”
The great surprise of the Assembly, however, came during the vice-presidential election, where Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron of Detroit won on the third and final ballot in a runoff vote by a count of 151 to 90 votes over the higher-favored Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA.
“I’m deeply honored by the confidence my brother bishops have shown in electing me vice president of the USCCB,” Archbishop Vigneron tweeted after his relection. “This leads me to ask the Holy Spirit to give me the grace to help us all in our service of Christ’s Church.”
Archbishop Vigneron was ordained in the Archdiocese of Detroit in 1975, was later instituted as the Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit in 1996. He became the Bishop of Oakland in 2003, and was installed as Archbishop of Detroit in 2009. Vigneron has served the USCCB as a member of the Committee on Doctrine, the Subcommittee on the Catechism and, starting in 2016, as the Conference Secretary.
Vigneron has also served the Church by implementing measures to prevent clerical abuse, instituting an evangelization and mission-oriented initiative called ‘Unleash the Gospel’ aimed towards revitalizing the Church in Detroit through prayer, and Catholic school reform along with social and news media outreach.
Vigneron vacated his old seat as conference secretary to begin his new role as Vice President, which allowed Archbishop Broglio to be elected to his former station.
Other bishops taking up positions of leadership include Archbishop George V. Murray, S.J., of Cincinnati as the Chairman for the Committee on Religious Liberty, Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki of Milwaukee, who will become the Chairman of the Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance, and Bishop David P. Talley of Memphis, who will serve as the Chairman of the Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs.
Featured image of Archbishop Jose Gomez courtesy of NDEthicsCenter via Flickr
Max Montana is a senior studying philosophy and theology. When not writing for The Torch, he enjoys reading more about the Catholic faith and philosophy, serving the unborn and mothers in need, and hanging out with friends. Max is honored to hail from the state with many gators and the bishop of the moon: Florida.
- Pray, Pray, Pray - April 27, 2023
- Rest a While - March 26, 2023
- God, Evil, and Us - February 23, 2023