Online Edition –
Vol. VI, No. 6-7: September/October 2000
Father DiNoia to leave NCCB
Dominican Father Augustine DiNoia, Executive Director of the Secretariats of the Doctrine and Pastoral Practices Committees of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops will leave the NCCB in February of 2001, according to an announcement by the NCCB September 6.
Father DiNoia, who has held this key position at the NCCB since July 1993, will become director of the Intercultural Forum at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington.
In his position with the Doctrine Committee, Father DiNoia has advised the bishops on matters of theology and doctrine during the critical debate on issues of importance to the Church in the United States. Among these matters are implementation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Vatican document on higher education, Ex Corde Ecclesiae, the relation between bishops and theologians, and the doctrinal integrity of translated liturgical texts.
Father DiNoia began his service to the NCCB during the tenure of Bishop Alfred Hughes as chairman of the Doctrine Committee (1991-94). He has served as staff for two other bishop-chairmen of the Doctrine Committee: Archbishop John Quinn of San Francisco (1994-95) and Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk (1996-2000). After Archbishop Quinn resigned in December 1995, Archbishop Pilarczyk completed the term and was elected to a 3-year term in 1996. (Chairmen of this committee are elected in November of the year before their term begins).
Father DiNoia’s prececessor as executive director of the Committee was Father Michael J. Walsh, of Brooklyn.
Bishop Donald Trautman, of Erie, former chairman of the Liturgy Committee, was elected to succeed Archbishop Pilarczyk in November 1999, and will assume chairmanship of the Doctrine Committee at the November meeting of the NCCB.
Doctrine Committee Chairmen
The bishops who have been chairman of the key NCCB Committee on Doctrine are:
Archbishop John R. Quinn (San Francisco) – 1982-85
Bishop Raymond Lessard (Savannah) – 1985-88
Archbishop Oscar Lipscomb (Mobile) – 1988-91
Bishop Alfred C. Hughes (Baton Rouge) – 1991-94
Archbishop John R. Quinn – 1994-96
Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk (Cincinnati) – 1996-00
Two Doctrine Committee chairmen have also been president of the NCCB, Archbishop Quinn (1977-80), and Archbishop Pilarczyk (1989-92).
-Helen Hull Hitchcock
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