Online Edition – Vol. VII, No. 9: December 2001 – January 2002

Belleville bishop to head USCCB,
Committee chairmen elected

Bishop Wilton Gregory, Belleville, was elected president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on November 13.

A Chicago native, Bishop Gregory was ordained priest in 1973, made auxiliary bishop of Chicago in 1983 at age 36, and bishop of Belleville in 1993.

He was chairman of the Committee on Liturgy 1991-1994, and elected vice-president of the conference in 1998. The vice-president ordinarily succeeds to the presidency; however, nine other candidates appeared on the slate, including Bishop William Skylstad, Spokane, who was elected vice-president. (Saint Louis Archbishop Justin Rigali received the next highest number of votes.)

Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George is the chairman-elect of the Committee on Liturgy, to succeed Archbishop Oscar Lipscomb next year. Cardinal George, who addressed the conference on Liturgiam authenticam, the Instruction on liturgical translation, has been the US bishops’ representative to ICEL since 1997.

Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, Philadelphia, will head the Committee for Pro-Life Activities, and Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Washington, DC, the Committee on Domestic Policy. Archbishop James Keleher, Kansas City, Kansas, was elected treasurer. Other new committee chairmen are Bishop Edward Cullen, Allentown, Women in Society and in the Church; Bishop Robert Morlino, Helena, Diaconate; Bishop James Hoffmann, Toledo, Pastoral Practices; Bishop Kevin Britt, auxiliary Detroit, Vocations; Bishop Gregory Aymond, Austin, World Mission; and Bishop Thomas Wenski, Miami, Migration.

Eleven other bishops became chairmen-elect, to take office next year. They are: Bishop Gordon Bennett, SJ, Baltimore, African-American; Bishop Thomas Doran, Rockford, Canonical Affairs; Bishop Stephen Blaire, Stockton, Ecumenical and Interreligious; Bishop Bernard Harrington, Winona, Education; Bishop Edward Slattery, Tulsa, Evangelization; Bishop James Tamayo, Laredo, Hispanic; Bishop Dale Melczek, Gary, Laity; Bishop Kevin Boland, Savannah, Marriage; Bishop John Nienstedt, New Ulm, Priestly Formation; Bishop Basil Schott, OFM, Parma (Byzantine), Eastern/Latin; Bishop Francis DiLorenzo, Honolulu, Science & Human Values; Bishop John Ricard, SSJ, Pensacola-Tallahassee, International Policy.

***