In the Nov 4 speech to the Congress of Catholics and Public Life in Madrid, Gomez framed today's social justice activism, including the anti-racist movement in the United States, as an angry Marxist-inspired, anti-Christian expression of a corrosive secularism being pushed by an "elite leadership class."

"In fact, as they see it, religion, especially Christianity, only gets in the way of the society they hope to build," said Gomez, who is also president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Gomez's remarks angered leading Black Catholic theologians, academics and activists.

Groups such as Pax Christi USA and the Association of US Catholic Priests have released statements in recent days condemning the archbishop's comments.

"Your speech was particularly painful and offensive to Black Catholic advocates in the United States who have organised for racial justice in the face of indifference and even hostility from many white Christians," reads the new petition, which was released Nov 12 and was organised by Faith in Public Life and Faithful America.

Craig Ford, a theology professor at St Norbert College in Wisconsin, urged Gomez to meet with social movement leaders and theologians to find common ground in their shared commitment to human dignity.

"Black Lives Matter and other justice movements are secular expressions of Jesus' presence among those who are reviled and rejected," Ford said.

But in Gomez's stated view, modern secular movements like Black Lives Matter are rival ideologies trying to "cancel" or push Christianity out of public life.

Gomez suggested that the church can only engage those movements not on social or political terms, "but as dangerous substitutes for true religion."

The archbishop's talk has sparked a backlash from Catholics involved in social justice works. On Nov 9, Pax Christi USA released an official statement rejecting Gomez's "negative and misleading stereotype" of today's social justice movements.

"His derisive use of the term 'woke' is commonplace among those who feel the power they have traditionally wielded is threatened by those who call for greater justice, equity and social change," the Pax Christi statement said.

The new petition encourages Gomez to embrace the "Church in the streets" called for by Pope Francis by finding common ground "with a new generation of social justice leaders who, in the language of Vatican II, are reading the 'signs of the times' and inspiring diverse movements of people who are putting their faith into action."

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• CathNews

US Bishops' Conference head and Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez's (pictured) 4 November speech to a group of Catholics in Spain shows "a serious misunderstanding, and perhaps even a willed ignorance, about the goals and motivations of contemporary social justice movements," says Fr Bryan Massingale.

Massingale is concerned Gomez described the US anti-racist movement as an angry expression of corrosive secularism being pushed by an "elite leadership class."

Gomez characterizes social justice movements like Black Lives Matter as "pseudo-religions based on profoundly atheistic ideologies that are hostile to Catholic belief," Massingale says.

But Massingale says most Black Catholics he knows advocate Black Lives Matter "precisely because of our belief in the universal human dignity of all people as images of God.

"We declare that Black Lives Matter precisely because of our allegiance to what the archbishop calls the Christian story."

From Gomez's perspective, the "new social movements and ideologies ... were being seeded and prepared for many years in our universities and cultural institutions."

He said in the U.S., amid the tension and fear created by the pandemic and social isolation, "these movements were fully unleashed" with George Floyd's death.

While Gomez characterized new social movements as evidence of "extremism" and a "harsh, uncompromising and unforgiving approach to politics," he was selective about the examples he used.

Some observers note he didn't mention anti-vaccine demonstrations or violent incidents such as the 6 January insurrection. During the insurrection, Donald Trump supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol. Many invoked their faith while doing so.

A Black sociology professor at Villanova University says Gomez's talk sends a message to Catholics who are people of colour or involved in anti-racism that Gomez does not stand in solidarity with them.

"This is beyond disappointing because the president of the [bishops' conference] should, in fact, do more than stand in solidarity. He should be an anti-racism activist in his own right," she says.

Another Black commentator says one of her immediate takeaways from Gomez's speech was "how out of touch and erroneous" his interpretation of social justice movements in America is.

"Today's social justice movements are rooted in the very ideals that Catholics profess: that all life is sacred, that the least among us deserve respect and protection, and that we must strive to end oppression and hatred."

Gomez's message sought to "erase the voices of millions" of Catholics and Christians of color who are involved in the anti-racism movement, she says.

"Seventy-nine per cent of Black Americans identify as Christian, and you better believe most of those people are also against racism," the commentator says. "He is revealing the blind spot that many leaders in the church have."

She noted Pope Francis has commended activists who protest against police brutality and racism. He called them the "Collective Samaritan" - who did not turn away when they saw "the wound to human dignity, afflicted by such an abuse of power."

Source

• Religion News Service
• America Magazine
• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: America Magazine

The US bishops are drafting new guidance on the abortion-communion issue, which they expect to release in November.

Their decision to vote about this matter flouts a letter from the Vatican in May.

The letter explicitly urged the bishops to avoid the vote.

The decision also disregards Francis's pleas for them to de-emphasise culture war issues and expand the scope of their mission to climate change, migration and poverty.

The US bishops' vote resulted in a large majority - 168-55 - agreeing to begin drafting guidance on the sacrament of the Eucharist at the bishops' virtual meeting last Friday. Six bishops abstained from the process.

Although the guidance's details have not been divulged, it is assumed that conservative leaders in the U.S. church will use it as a vehicle to deny communion to prominent Catholics who support abortion rights. Biden is one such Catholic.

Church law, however, says for the bishops to pass a doctrinal declaration on banning communion, the conference needs either unanimous support - and at this stage not all US bishops are in agreement. The alternative is for the bishops to have two-thirds support and the Vatican's approval.

Vatican approval seems unlikely.

"It's not going to get to that point," says a senior Vatican official with knowledge of the thinking inside the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the church's doctrinal watchdog.

Biden, who attended Mass on Sunday (pictured) and was named several times during the bishops' debate, says whether he is allowed to receive holy communion is a "private matter".

He agrees with the Vatican that it's unlikely to happen.

The grave issue of Friday's vote is that it particularly threatens the unity of the American church itself.

"Bishops now want to talk about excluding people at a time when the real challenge before them is welcoming people back to the regular practice of the faith, and rebuilding their communities," Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich says.

Another critic, NCR's Michael Sean Winters takes particular aim at USCBC President Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez.

"If you look to Gomez for leadership, you are going to be severely disappointed.

"When he was named to Los Angeles in 2010, I held out hope that his pastoral instincts would triumph over the culture warrior attitudes of some of his colleagues. I was wrong.

"Gomez has led the bishops to this point.

"His inability to stand up to the bullies in the conference has crippled it.

"Now, this man who once said, 'There are no single-issue saints,' has allowed the conference to descend into a functional schism.

A Vatican spokesperson commented that Francis understood that only time would change the composition of the American Bishops conference and put the American church in alignment with Rome.

"There has to be a biological solution," he said.

"Francis has to wait for them to retire."

Source

• People
• National Catholic Reporter
• NY Times
• NCR
• Image: NY Times

Dozens of bishops had written to the USCCB president, Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez, requesting to postpone the debate until a later meeting. They wanted more time to prepare for the debate, and to discuss the issue in person rather than via a virtual meeting.

But prompt action is being sought by some conservative bishops who want to signal that President Joe Biden and other Catholic politicians who support abortion rights should not receive Communion.

Archbishop Gomez explained that the USCCB administrative committee approved a request from Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, for the discussion on drafting a document to examine the "meaning of the Eucharist in the life of the church".

Bishop Rhoades chairs the bishops' committee on doctrine, which would draft the document if approved by the full assembly.

In a memo, Archbishop Gomez said USCCB rules require that the body of bishops first be asked whether to issue a document on a particular topic.

"Importantly, the action item does not ask the body to approve a final statement, but only whether drafting of a text may begin," the memo said.

If the action is approved, the doctrine committee would begin its work, subject to the conference's "usual process of consultation, modification and amendment" when presented for consideration at a future general assembly.

"As you will note, the focus of this proposed teaching document is on how best to help people to understand the beauty and mystery of the Eucharist as the center of their Christian lives," Gomez wrote.

Denver Archbishop Samuel Aquila, one of the conservatives engaged in the discussions, issued a statement Tuesday praising Gomez and saying he "followed the correct procedures to facilitate this critical discussion as a body of bishops."

Aquila referred to a May 7 letter to Gomez from the head of the Vatican's doctrine office, Cardinal Luis Ladaria, urging the US bishops to deliberate carefully and minimize divisions before proceeding with any action on the Communion issue.

"It was clear from it that the USCCB's plan to discuss and debate this important issue is warranted and encouraged," Aquila said. "In contrast, the publication of the letter calling for a halt to discussion at our June meeting on this vital issue risks creating an atmosphere of factionalism, rather than unity amongst the bishops."

But in a recent essay, Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego made a case against the campaign to deny Biden and others Communion.

"It will bring tremendously destructive consequences," McElroy wrote. "The Eucharist is being weaponized and deployed as a tool in political warfare. This must not happen."

Sources

The Tablet

America Magazine

ABC News

US Catholic Bishops' Conference (USCCB) president Archbishop José Gomez wrote to the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in March, explaining the USCCB was preparing to draft such a document.

Cardinal Luis F. Ladaria (pictured) replied last week, thanking the USCCB for offering him a preview of the document, when it is written.

However, Ladaria refused Gomez's request to see a copy of a letter from then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to former cardinal Theodore McCarrick in 2004. Ladaria explained it was "in the form of a private letter to the bishops" and Ratzinger had stipulated that "these principles were not intended for publication."

Ladaria recalled the issue of a U.S.C.C.B. document on Catholic pro-choice politicians and worthiness for reception of Communion, had been raised during the USCCBs 2019-20 ad limina visits to Pope Francis.

He said the C.D.F. had then "advised that dialogue among the bishops be undertaken to preserve the unity of the episcopal conference in the face of disagreements over this controversial topic."

"The congregation notes that such a policy, given its possibly contentious nature, could have the opposite effect and become a source of discord rather than unity within the episcopate and the larger church in the United States."

Ladaria said the C.D.F. thought the policy could also advised the USCCB to engage in "extensive and serene dialogue" - first with the bishops, then with Catholic politicians about worthiness to receive communion.

The bishops would need to agree on the doctrinal issues "to maintain unity" in the conference and in the US church.

A similar dialogue would need to be held with Catholic politicians.

In addition, the policy would best be framed within the broad context of worthiness for the reception of Holy Communion on the part of all the faithful, rather than only one category of Catholics, Ladaria said.

Despite the CDF and USCCBs cautious approach, San Fransisco's Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone is reiterating that Catholic public figures who support abortion rights be barred from Communion - while at the same time pleading with them to have a change of heart.

Cordileone says according to Canon law, the local bishop has the power to decide whether or not someone can receive the Eucharist.

San Diego's Bishop Robert McElroy has has been vocal that denying Biden or other political leaders Communion would be "very destructive."

"I do not see how depriving the President or other political leaders of Eucharist based on their public policy stance can be interpreted in our society as anything other than the weaponization of the Eucharist," McElroy said in February.

McElroy reiterated his stance last week, telling America magazine that "the Eucharist is being weaponized and deployed as a tool in political warfare."

Cordileone rebuked the notion that he is being political.

"This is not a political motive for me. I intentionally waited until after the election to release [the pastoral letter]."

Source

• Crux Now
• America
• Image: National Catholic Reporter

"When politicians who profess the Catholic faith support them there are additional problems," Gomez, the president of the United States Conference of Catholics Bishops. said. "One of the things it creates is confusion with the faithful about what the church actually teaches."

The remarks were part of an unscheduled five-minute address Gomez gave to close out the first-ever virtual U.S. Bishops conference that took place Monday and Tuesday. He also announced Archbishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit will chair a new working group to help navigate the situation between the American Catholic church and president-elect.

Read More

As the church prepares to celebrate his feast day tomorrow, the Archbishop asked Catholics to invoke the intercession of St Junipero "for this nation that he helped to found."

He also urged prayers especially for "an end to racial prejudice and a new awareness of what it means that all men and women are created equal as children of God." Read more

Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gómez, 67, was the conference's vice president, and in line with tradition where the vice president is elected president, there was little surprise when on Wednesday, he was elected on the first ballot.

When the results were announced, the room erupted in a standing ovation.

As well as the first Mexico-born US Bishops Conference president, Gómez is the first bishop elected to lead the conference to be associated with the very conservative and sometimes controversial Opus Dei.

Gómez however is considered a practical-minded conservative, and an outspoken advocate of a welcoming immigration policy that would include a path to citizenship for many immigrants living in the US illegally.

In August, after a gunman targeting Mexicans killed 22 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, Gómez condemned white supremacy, noting that Spanish was spoken in North America before English was, reports CNA.

"Men and women do not become less than human, less a child of God, because they are 'undocumented,'" Gómez wrote.

"Yet, in our nation, it has become common to hear migrants talked about and treated as if they are somehow beneath caring about."

Gómez, who has relatives and friends on both sides of the US-Mexico border, describes the situation surrounding the border and the Trump Wall as "tragedy".

"Our encouragement to elected officials is to find a good, solid immigration reform that allows people to move legally", he said responding to the border-suffering.

Humbled by the other US Bishops he calls his election, "A blessing for the Latino community."

"He's a man of faith," Doris Quinania, who attended the celebration with a group from St. Frances X. Cabrini in Los Angeles, describes Gómez as 'a man of faith who has a heart for all the poor, especially immigrants'.

Following the election of Gómez, the US bishops chose Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron, 71, as the new vice president.

By tradition, that puts Vigneron in line to become Conference president in three years, although, at that point, he would be close to the mandatory retirement age of 75.

Sources

• CNA
• Associated Press

The first term of comparison is the tension between Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles and his predecessor, Cardinal Roger Mahony. On Jan. 31, Gomez announced that Mahony would "no longer have any administrative or public duties" because of failures to protect children from abuse, documented in files released by the archdiocese. That triggered an open letter to Gomez from Mahony acknowledging mistakes, but insisting he went on to make Los Angeles "second to none" in keeping children safe.

Mahony remains a priest and bishop in good standing, and he really hasn't had any administrative role since stepping down in March 2011. The practical effect of the action thus is limited, but symbolically it amounts to what Jesuit Fr. Tom Reese has called a "public shaming."

So far, the Vatican hasn't said much other than it's paying attention and clarifying that the action applies only to Los Angeles.

Behind door No. 2 lies the highly public spat in 2010 between Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna, Austria, and Italian Cardinal Angelo Sodano, a former Secretary of State and still the dean of the College of Cardinals.

For those whose memories may have dimmed, a series of clerical abuse scandals exploded across Europe in early 2010, which among other things cast a critical spotlight on Benedict XVI's personal record. Sodano created a media sensation in April 2010 by calling that criticism "petty gossip" during the Vatican's Easter Mass.

In a session with Austrian journalists not long afterward, Schönborn not only said Sodano had "deeply wronged" abuse victims, but he also charged that Sodano had blocked an investigation of Schönborn's disgraced predecessor, Cardinal Hans Hermann Gröer, who had been accused of molesting seminarians and monks and who resigned in 1995. Schönborn reportedly said that then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, wanted to take action, but he lost an internal Vatican argument to Sodano. Continue reading

Sources

• John L Allen Jr in National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Daily News Los Angeles

John L Allen Jr is NCR senior correspondent.