U S Conference Of Catholic Bishops

A woman has filed a claim alleging that she was sexually abused 40 years ago by Bishop William Skylstad, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic bishops and leader of the Spokane Diocese. Skylstad issued a statement categorically denying the accusation, saying he has not violated the vow of celibacy he took 47 years ago.

Henry Herx, who for more than 30 years prepared the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' movie ratings and wrote reviews that were distributed by the Catholic News Service, has died. He was 79. Herx died Wednesday at his home in Ramsey, N.J., of complications from liver cancer, his family told the Catholic News Service. Herx also edited movie guides, including "Our Sunday Visitor's Family Guide to Movies and Videos," in which he evaluated thousands of titles through the prism of Catholic doctrine and took stock of sexual content, violence and offensive language.

The nation's Roman Catholic bishops will spend the next two years debating whether to convene the U.S. church's first plenary council since 1884. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops agreed this week to a rough timeline for calling a council. If called, the council would be open to all bishops, as well as to representatives of seminaries and colleges, priests and lay groups.

Catholic bishops say they remain opposed to President Obama's plan to require insurers to provide free birth control, even if religiously affiliated employers such as Catholic hospitals and universities aren't forced to pay for it. "The only complete solution to this religious liberty problem is for HHS [the Department of Health and Human Services] to rescind the mandate of these objectionable services," the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said in a statement. The statement, issued late Friday, makes clear that the bishops' opposition goes beyond the "religious freedom" dispute that had riled Washington in recent weeks.

Leaders of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops are questioning the moral legitimacy of a war with Iraq and urged President Bush to "step back from the brink." In a letter Friday to the White House made public Tuesday, the 60-member Administrative Committee of the Roman Catholic bishops conference drew a sharp line between U.S. military action over the last year in Afghanistan and a preemptive war with Iraq.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on Tuesday elected Bishop Wilton Gregory of Illinois as its president--the first African American to hold the position. Gregory, 53, has led the Belleville, Ill., diocese since 1994. He has written extensively on such issues as the death penalty and euthanasia. Immediately upon Gregory's election, calls of delight from around the country poured in to the bishops conference, meeting in Washington.

Though continuing to stress that same-sex relationships are immoral, America's Roman Catholic bishops may approve new guidelines this week that would absolve gay Catholics of any obligation to try to alter their sexual orientation. The guidelines for ministering to homosexuals, to be reviewed when bishops convene today in Baltimore for their annual fall meeting, also will urge clergy to baptize the adopted children of same-sex couples who agree to raise them Catholic.

For weeks, the Catholic Church has asked its U.S. parishioners to work toward ensuring that tough language restricting federal funding of abortion is included in healthcare overhaul legislation. It has gone so far as to insert a prayer into the weekly bulletins of dioceses across the country, imploring Congress to "act to ensure that needed healthcare reform will truly protect the life, dignity and healthcare of all." But as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the church's governing body in America, tries to rally its forces outside Congress, it is also using its leverage within.

After much prayer and deliberation, the nation's Roman Catholic bishops on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a new English translation for the Mass that will change the prayers tens of millions of American Catholics have recited for more than three decades. The 173-29 vote of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, meeting in Los Angeles for their spring session, means that American Catholics will soon have to learn slightly different versions of texts that have become second nature.

When the nation's Roman Catholic bishops approved a master plan a year ago in Dallas to wrest their church from its debilitating sexual abuse crisis, they hoped that they had reached a turning point in what one ranking prelate called their "long and sorrowful journey." But as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops prepares to open its spring meeting in St. Louis on Thursday, key figures in the church said that in important ways the bishops have not come very far.

The nation's Catholic bishops bucked decades of tradition Tuesday to select Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York as their new leader, cementing his reputation as a star of the American church and prompting some commentators to suggest that the U.S. Catholic hierarchy may be turning rightward. Dolan's election as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops "signaled a clear ascendancy of the conservative bloc," the National Catholic Reporter said. Others, however, said it primarily reflected Dolan's personal charisma.

For weeks, the Catholic Church has asked its U.S. parishioners to work toward ensuring that tough language restricting federal funding of abortion is included in healthcare overhaul legislation. It has gone so far as to insert a prayer into the weekly bulletins of dioceses across the country, imploring Congress to "act to ensure that needed healthcare reform will truly protect the life, dignity and healthcare of all." But as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the church's governing body in America, tries to rally its forces outside Congress, it is also using its leverage within.

Though continuing to stress that same-sex relationships are immoral, America's Roman Catholic bishops may approve new guidelines this week that would absolve gay Catholics of any obligation to try to alter their sexual orientation. The guidelines for ministering to homosexuals, to be reviewed when bishops convene today in Baltimore for their annual fall meeting, also will urge clergy to baptize the adopted children of same-sex couples who agree to raise them Catholic.

After much prayer and deliberation, the nation's Roman Catholic bishops on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a new English translation for the Mass that will change the prayers tens of millions of American Catholics have recited for more than three decades. The 173-29 vote of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, meeting in Los Angeles for their spring session, means that American Catholics will soon have to learn slightly different versions of texts that have become second nature.

A woman has filed a claim alleging that she was sexually abused 40 years ago by Bishop William Skylstad, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic bishops and leader of the Spokane Diocese. Skylstad issued a statement categorically denying the accusation, saying he has not violated the vow of celibacy he took 47 years ago.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced a renewed campaign against the death penalty Monday, launching an education program and expanding its advocacy efforts in Congress and state legislatures. "We cannot teach that killing is wrong by killing," Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, archbishop of Washington, said at the National Press Club. "We cannot defend life by taking life."

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced a renewed campaign against the death penalty Monday, launching an education program and expanding its advocacy efforts in Congress and state legislatures. "We cannot teach that killing is wrong by killing," Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, archbishop of Washington, said at the National Press Club. "We cannot defend life by taking life."

Outside critics and "extremists" within the Catholic church have exploited the sexual abuse scandal to "advance their own agendas," the head of the nation's Roman Catholic bishops charged Monday. Speaking at the opening of the meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which later this week is scheduled to vote on a compromise plan for handling abusive priests, Bishop Wilton D. Gregory of Belleville, Ill.

When the nation's Roman Catholic bishops approved a master plan a year ago in Dallas to wrest their church from its debilitating sexual abuse crisis, they hoped that they had reached a turning point in what one ranking prelate called their "long and sorrowful journey." But as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops prepares to open its spring meeting in St. Louis on Thursday, key figures in the church said that in important ways the bishops have not come very far.

The nation's Roman Catholic bishops will spend the next two years debating whether to convene the U.S. church's first plenary council since 1884. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops agreed this week to a rough timeline for calling a council. If called, the council would be open to all bishops, as well as to representatives of seminaries and colleges, priests and lay groups.