The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) met this past week from Monday through Thursday. This is the annual meeting of the bishops at which most of the business of the Conference is carried on. There were several items on the agenda that had been worked on for some time, and there was a major issue that had to do with our role as teachers, particularly in light of the upcoming presidential and other national elections.

Elections were in the air. Every three years the body of bishops elects a president and vice president to serve for three years beginning at the end of that particular plenary assembly. The custom through the years has been that the vice president has always been elected president, except the one time when Cardinal Carberry was vice president and could not run for president because he would not have been able to fulfill a three-year term.

The vice president, Cardinal Francis George, was elected with 85 percent of the vote to assume the role this week of president of the USCCB. We bishops are very proud of this choice. As Father Richard Neuhaus said recently, “The bishops looked around the room, and they decided to vote for the brightest bulb in the room.” Cardinal George is an extraordinarily gifted man, a priest with integrity, and a bishop who has proven himself time and again to be a wise and holy leader. Bishop Gerald Kicanas, Bishop of Tucson, Ariz. was elected as vice president. Bishop Kicanas has been the chairman of the Committee on Priorities and Plans, which for the last several years has been involved in the restructuring of the USCCB in order to make it leaner, more effective, more efficient and more economical.

Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Ky. gave an update on the ongoing project in favor of marriage and family life. He showed us some wonderful new public service announcements that will be available for use around the country in support of marriage entitled “What Did You Do for Your Marriage Today?” It is an upbeat, interesting, often funny and always thoughtful and informative series of comments about marriage. It can be found on the USCCB Web site under www.foryourmarriage.org. This is part of the ongoing priority of emphasizing the importance of marriage and family life not just for Catholics but for the good of our whole society.

A number of chairmanships of committees were up for election. It was my fortune, whether that be good or not so good, to be elected chairman of the Committee for Domestic Policy, a role that I will fulfill for the bishops for the next three years. With that comes responsibility as a member of the Administrative Committee of the USCCB. I ask for your prayers and your indulgence for those two extra times during the year when I will have to be out of the diocese for meetings in Washington. I will continue to serve on the Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and as a member of the Committee on International Policy. I am, however, giving up my chairmanship of the Task Force on Health Care Issues.

More important than elections was the document entitled “Faithful Citizenship.” In 1975, the bishops decided to issue a statement every four years, prior to presidential elections, that would bring together the positions of the bishops on a number of issues. These quadrennial documents were, through more than two decades, the compilation of positions that the bishops had taken on specific issues. Eight years ago, those of us who had worked on this statement through the years recast this document in order to give a better sense of priorities. The document was reorganized into issues of life, which always have priority for us as Catholics, issues of domestic policy which affect our lives here in the United States, and issues of international policy which point out the responsibility we have as Catholics and as Americans for our brothers and sisters around the world. This served us well in the last two presidential campaigns. This year, however, a proposal was made that the preparation of the document be done by a much broader group, including the Committee for Pro-Life, the Committee on Doctrine, the Committee on Communications and others. The result you will see very shortly when the printing office of the USCCB makes this available for purchase and distribution.

This document was passed overwhelmingly with 98 percent of the bishops in favor of it. It is a fine document. It sets out a new kind of way that the bishops speak in an election year. Our principal purpose is going to be to teach good Catholics about the importance of the formation of conscience and then from that fundamental issue of formation of conscience to look at the issues in light of Catholic teaching. I personally am very excited about this new document, and we will be returning to it to talk about it in subsequent columns as well.

A statement was worked on by the Committee on International Policy which became a statement of the president of the Conference on Iraq (see page 5). This calls for bipartisan cooperation for a responsible transition in Iraq. I will be making comments on this in the very near future.

Other issues that came up included concern for catechetics and religious education. As you know, the bishops in the 1990s began to address the issue of adequate text for religious education through grade eight. This has been done successfully, and we can see the benefits in our own parish religious education programs. The bishops have spent some time looking at curriculum and text for youngsters of high school age. This is an age in which it is very important that the truths of the Catholic Church be passed on and that the moral formation of young Catholics is assured. Too often, we have left teachers without enough guidance in this particular area. A major step forward has taken place with this new emphasis for a development of text for youngsters both in Catholic high schools and in Catholic religious education classes at the high school level. The publishers are eager to work with us, and I believe that it will bring fruitful results in the years to come.

On the first day of the meeting Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the Apostolic Nuncio in Washington, briefed the bishops on the upcoming trip of the Holy Father to the United States from April 15 to 20. The Holy Father will visit Washington and New York. In Washington he will have a full schedule of Mass at the new Washington Nationals Stadium, a meeting with all of the bishops of the United States, a visit to The Catholic University of America, a meeting with catechetical leaders and an opportunity for interreligious dialogue with leaders of the various religions here in the United States. In New York on April 18, his principal task will be to address the United Nations’ General Assembly. He will conclude his time here with a Mass at Yankee Stadium. I am told that the Archdiocese of New York will make tickets for that available to us at the proper time. Other events are still in the process of being finalized, but we do know that the Holy Father is coming and this will be a great blessing for us all.

May I ask that you continue to pray for me as your bishop, for our wonderful auxiliary bishops here in Rockville Centre and for all the bishops of the United States. That prayer, of course, rises to the Father in the context of our own commitment to the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, that the Lord might sustain him and give him courage and strength to continue to be the witness of truth and of charity to the world which so much needs his voice and his leadership.