The optics of the latest meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, June 14-16 in Orlando, tell the story. It is not about us, Phyllis Zagano writes. The view from the pews is of men talking about men.
With the most important conversations held behind closed doors, the U.S. bishops' spring meeting in Orlando did not impress columnist Michael Sean Winters.
At their spring meeting, the U.S. bishops unanimously voted to revise the ethical and religious directives that govern Catholic health care institutions to align with a recent doctrinal document that bans transgender care.
The Vatican's ambassador to the U.S. praised the synodal process at the opening of the U.S. bishops' spring assembly. And the bishops delayed for a day a vote to begin a process that could ban gender-affirming care at Catholic hospitals.
When the U.S. bishops consider new rules for transgender care at Catholic hospitals, Michael Sean Winters suggests listening to the Catholic Health Association, not the ideological National Catholic Bioethics Center.
Topics foremost in the public's mind are not on the agenda: the war in Ukraine, the treatment of transgender people, global warming, the culture wars over public education, economic inequality, political divisions and the rise of hate groups.
The U.S. Catholic bishops will vote on whether to amend their official directives for Catholic health care institutions to mandate that they cannot provide gender-affirming medical treatment.
On the U.S. bishops' agenda: National Eucharistic Revival and discussion of the ethical guidelines for Catholic health care institutions. Not on the agenda: pope's ongoing process for the 2021-24 Synod of Bishops.
