Week of
November 22, 2000
Inside the Register
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Bishops address complex issues at meeting
WASHINGTON (CNS) - The U.S. bishops made quick work of a complex document on church art and architecture and a resolution urging sweeping changes in the U.S. immigration system on the last day of their fall general meeting Nov. 16.
The Nov. 13-16 meeting of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and U.S. Catholic Conference at the Hyatt Regency in Washington adjourned about an hour earlier than scheduled after considering some 18 action items over the four days.
Other highlights of the annual session included the bishops' first explicit expression of support for an independent Palestinian state, a call to reform the "broken" U.S. criminal justice system, condemnation of the Sudanese government's actions against its own citizens, and encouragement of a "profound conversion" in the way Catholic institutions welcome immigrants.
The bishops also recommitted themselves and the church to protecting human life, saying that the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Nebraska's ban on partial-birth abortion has brought the legal system "to the brink of endorsing infanticide."
"Built of Living Stones: Art, Architecture and Worship," a 108-page document in draft form, was approved with little discussion after the Committee on Liturgy accepted 100 amendments in addition to the 241 it had agreed to before the meeting began.
The first set of guidelines for building or renovating churches to be issued by the entire body of bishops, "Built of Living Stones" replaces the 1978 liturgy committee document, "Environment and Art in Catholic Worship."
In the resolution on immigration, passed without debate, the bishops called on Congress and the new president to revise the nation's immigration laws and policies in ways that uphold immigrants' dignity and human rights.
"We believe the current configuration of our immigration laws combined with immigration policies pursued by our government in the last several years have had the negative effects of undermining the dignity of immigrants and dividing immigrant families," the resolution said.
The special message, "Returning to the Path of Peace in the Middle East," approved Nov. 15 without audible dissent, says that "a just peace demands speedy implementation of relevant U.N. resolutions and other provisions of international law, and the establishment of an internationally recognized Palestinian state."
It adds that "a just peace equally demands respect for Israel's right to exist and flourish within secure borders."
The message - which calls for prayer, fasting and abstinence by U.S. Catholics during Advent and Christmas in support of peace - marked the first time that the bishops have expressed explicit support for an independent Palestinian state.
A 48-page statement titled "Responsibility, Rehabilitation and Restoration: A Catholic Perspective on Crime and Criminal Justice" received unanimous approval Nov. 15. Drafted by the bishops' Domestic Policy Committee, it sharply challenges the trend toward more prisons, stiffer sentences and more executions as the U.S. response to crime.
It recommends new efforts to rebuild the shattered lives of victims and offenders and "reweave a broader social fabric of respect for life, civility, responsibility and reconciliation."
The pastoral statement on welcoming immigrants, called "Welcoming the Stranger Among Us: Unity in Diversity," addresses the contemporary challenges of welcoming immigrants into the life of the church. It also received unanimous approval Nov. 15.
The document touches on the historic role of immigrants in the church and the differences with and similarities to contemporary situations. It also addresses some of the governmental issues of immigration, from the pressures leading emigrants to leave their homelands to the hurdles and complexities of American immigration law.
The statement on Sudan, one of the first documents to be approved by the bishops at the meeting, accuses the Islamic government of Sudan of "slavery, torture, executions, religious persecution (and) discriminatory laws" against its citizens.
"The violence and repression in Sudan cannot be allowed to continue," the bishops said. "Sudan's political and military leaders must abandon their current path, which has led only to endless death and destruction."
The 16-year war in Sudan has caused the death of an estimated 2 million Sudanese and displaced twice that number.
Meanwhile, the statement "The U.S. Supreme Court and the Culture of Death" follows the history of abortion-related decisions of the Supreme Court since its 1973 Roe vs. Wade ruling legalizing abortion.
"This ruling has helped to create an abortion culture, in which many Americans turn to the destruction of innocent life as an answer to social and personal problems," it says.
Earlier in their meeting, the bishops had elected Bishop William B. Friend of Shreveport, La., as NCCB-USCC secretary and considered a wide range of internal matters. They approved revised guidelines for retired bishops, a $49.3 million budget for 2001, an increase in the diocesan assessment by 2.9 percent for 2002, a new Committee on Catechesis, and a new special-emphasis objective giving greater priority in conference activities to the multicultural dimension of the church.
In other votes, the bishops approved:
- National legislation on the age of confirmation and on those who explain Catholic teaching on radio and television.
- Final modifications in the statutes that will guide the new U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
- The concept and timeline for revising the Lectionary for Masses With Children
- Adoption of the Mexican Lectionary for Scripture readings in U.S. Spanish-language liturgies.
- The extension of 16 current ad hoc committees, which could have died in accord with the bishops' three-year sunset policy for ad hoc committees.
- Additional diocesan financial reporting requirements in the wake of financial irregularities uncovered in dioceses in California and New Mexico over the past decade.
The bishops debated but did not vote on procedural guidelines on how they would grant, withhold or withdraw a theologian's "mandatum" to teach. The issue is to come up again at the bishops' spring 2001 meeting in Atlanta.
Also receiving preliminary discussion were proposed revisions of the bishops' "Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services" document.
The directives are being revised in the wake of the quickening pace of consolidations and other collaboration between Catholic and secular health care systems. Participation in such arrangements could lead the Catholic partner to violate Catholic moral principles, the bishops fear.
One topic not on the agenda - but perhaps on the bishops' minds - was the church's position on homosexuality.
More than 100 people were arrested Nov. 14 in front of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in a protest against the Catholic Church's teaching that homosexual acts are wrong.