Instead, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops put its time, effort and money into a national programme called the Eucharistic Revival.

It was not impossible to do both programmes, but as any pastor will tell you, doing two major programmes at once in a parish is very difficult.

It is hard enough to do just one programme while keeping all the other parish activities rolling along.

With a little bit of effort, the two programmes could have complemented each other instead of being in conflict. After all, synodality makes for a better Eucharist, and the Eucharist creates and nourishes synodality.

Both are about communion, participation and mission.

"In its broadest sense," according to the synthesis report from the October 2023 meeting of the synod, "synodality can be understood as Christians walking in communion with Christ toward the Kingdom along with the whole of humanity."

"Its orientation is towards mission," says the report, "and its practice involves gathering in assembly at each level of ecclesial life.

"It involves reciprocal listening, dialogue, community discernment, and creation of consensus as an expression that renders Christ present in the Holy Spirit, each taking decisions in accordance with their responsibilities."

A central part of the parish and diocesan phase of the synodal process is "conversation in the Spirit," in which participants in groups of 10 listen to each other about issues facing the Church.

The process builds communion and encourages participation in the mission of Jesus.

It is easy to see how this process could translate into participation in the Eucharist, the sacrament of Communion that empowers the Christian community to participate in the mission of Jesus of spreading the good news of the Father's love and our responsibility to love all our brothers and sisters.

But the Eucharistic Revival has a completely different focus.

It is more about Benediction, where the consecrated bread is worshipped, than the Eucharist, where the community is fed.

The impetus for the Eucharistic Revival came from the bishops' fear that the faithful no longer believe in the real presence in the Eucharist.

In fact, many Catholics do not even understand what the Church teaches about it.

Pew Research

According to the Pew Research Center, "More than four-in-ten Catholics in the United States (45 percent) do not know that their Church teaches that the bread and wine used in Communion do not merely symbolise but actually become the body and blood of Christ."

Pew found that Catholics believed that the bread and wine were only symbols of Christ's presence.

"Nearly seven-in-ten Catholics (69 percent) say they personally believe that during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine used in Communion ‘are symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ,'" according to Pew.

"Just one-third of U.S. Catholics (31 percent) say they believe that ‘during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus.'"

Others, including the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, have challenged Pew's research, but Pew's findings caused a panic among the bishops that resulted in them budgeting $28 million for the Eucharistic Revival, although the budget was later reduced to $14 million.

Benediction vs Eucharist

From its inception, the Eucharistic Revival was about the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ.

The revival included Eucharistic processions and Benediction in parishes and dioceses and culminates with a National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis from July 17-21, where thousands from all over the country are expected to attend.

But, I repeat, the revival is more about Benediction than the Eucharist.

Benediction is all about worshipping Jesus.

The Eucharist is about worshipping the Father and transforming the community into the Body of Christ.

Christ is not made present on the altar table so that we can worship him. He is present so that we can eat him and become what we eat.

The revival focuses on individual rather than community.

• It focuses on me and Jesus rather than the communion of Christians.
• It focuses on what happens to bread and wine rather than what happens to the community.
• It focuses on personal experience rather than mission.

Let me make clear. There is nothing wrong with Benediction, but it is not the Eucharist.

Jesus did not institute the Eucharist at the Last Supper so that we could worship him.

His focus was always on the Father, not himself.

If we listen to the Eucharistic prayer as recited by the priest for the community, we give praise and thanks to the Father for all he has done for us, especially for sending Jesus with the good news of the Father's love and compassion for us.

We pray not to Jesus but "through him, with him and in him in the unity of the Holy Spirit" to the Father.

We remember Jesus' life, death and resurrection.

During the Eucharistic prayer we ask for the Spirit to transform us into the body of Christ so that we can continue his mission of bringing justice, peace and love to the world.

Synodality is about communion, participation and mission; so, too, is the Eucharist.

Too bad the Eucharistic Revival is not.

• First published in RNS
• Thomas J. Reese, SJ is an American Catholic Jesuit priest, author, and journalist. He is a senior analyst at Religion News Service

I anticipate that the secretariat for the synod and the synod office of the [U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops] will be sending some resource material for us to use with our people during this interim.

When you read the interim document, you will find it raises thoughtful questions of pastoral and theological import.

Some might say that contentious questions are raised. I can say that many difficult issues were raised, but they were not discussed in a contentious way. This in itself is remarkable.

At its most basic, the term synodality describes a properly ecclesial style that prioritises regular conversational interactions among the people of God as decisions are made for the sake of the mission the Lord gave to the church.

The "Conversation in the Spirit" method utilised during our local gatherings and at the Synod of Bishops this last October is one effective way to promote this aim. This does not preclude the development of other conversational methods.

Conversation, as the Latin root suggests, implies more than talking and listening.

It involves sharing a way and a style of life, a style of communal life described succinctly by St. Paul in Galatians 5:22, marked by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

This wider sense of the word [conversation] as a way of life is echoed in [the third part of Summa Theologiae] when St. Thomas asks about the Conversatio Christi.

He speaks this way when referring to the Lord's habitual manner of life.

St. Thomas notes how the Lord Jesus intentionally moved and spoke easily among the people so as to instill in us confidence to approach Him, and through our approach receive the mercy he offers for the salvation of us sinners.

This grace of approachability inaugurates the grace of the Kingdom (Summa Theologiae III, q. 40, a. 1).

This is his conversatio. We could say the conversations of the synod are for the sake of building up an ethos, the conversatio of communion and confidence in the accessibility of Christ as He manifests himself in the church.

Our mission is meant to mirror his. The point is accessibility to Christ. The endeavor, we pray, is to be animated by the Spirit, who purifies and elevates our conversatio in every way.

In its primary instantiation, the synodal Conversatio Christi is local and particular. You cannot really listen to, or speak with, or share an ethos with people in general.

In the church, though, the particular life of the community, our conversatio, can bear the sacramental imprint of the whole.

Thus, in its flesh and blood particularity, the local is already a manifestation of the Catholic mystery, since the Catholicity of the church is sacramentally embodied in each community gathered around the local bishop, celebrating the Eucharist, living and often dying in witness to the faith in Christ we profess together.

St. Ignatius of Antioch witnesses to this, and "Lumen Gentium" explicates it. Communio lived in the conversatio is already an expression of the mission of the church, since we are called to be an anticipatory sign of the tribes, nations and tongues gathered around the heavenly throne of the Lamb who was slain.

During the gathering in Rome, great attention was given to how our sense of mission can flow more cohesively from the communion that baptism generates.

For example, many local churches seem at times to experience a disconnect between the church as communion and the church as evangelising mission; and between the evangelising mission and our public witness of charity and social justice; and between the public witness of charity and justice, and the eschatological horizon that the redemption anticipates.

How can we better manifest the cohesiveness of the mystery we live?

Thus, the third section of the interim report asks about synodal approaches to formation, and about the church's pastoral structures governing participation in various aspects of ecclesial life.

All of this leads to reflection — and will ultimately lead to decisions — about how the conversatio can be promoted within the structures of the church's life to encourage a more conscious engagement in the mission in all its variously related aspects.

The whole body has many gifts to put to the service of the mission. That the laity, by virtue of baptism, have an indispensable role in the mission of the church is not in doubt.

The questions are about how co-responsibility can be encouraged and facilitated in a way that respects the doctrinal principles that undergird ecclesial life and sound pastoral practice. Structure alone, of course, cannot ensure a Christian way of life and mission shared and promoted in common; for without the Spirit, the letter is dead.

As we read the interim report of the synod, we can hear the many issues that the local churches grapple with globally.

The synod offers us a Catholic way to do so faithfully, realistically, prayerfully, thoughtfully and charitably. We have a lot of work to do, but we, together with our people, need to be actively involved in the conversation.

Finally, I want to close by giving special thanks to all of our U.S. delegates for their witness, and good humor. They "done us proud", as we say in Texas. We all learned a lot, and we laughed a lot. And I thank God for the friendships fostered during our time together.

• Bishop Daniel E. Flores is the Bishop of Brownsville in Texas, which is the largest diocese in the United States.
• First published in America Magazine. Republished with Bishop Flores's permission.

Even the US Conference of Catholic Bishops rejects the concept of gender transition.

Trans people also face rebukes from fellow Catholics, which drives them away.

One transgender woman says this results in the church losing not just the transgender person but "parents, children and groups of friends who say this is not the church we want to belong to".

During the past two years, at least six catholic dioceses have issued guidelines discriminating against trans people.

One diocese bars church personnel from using trans people's preferred pronouns reflecting their gender identity.

Objecting to trans-supportive "gender theory," the diocese stipulates "all interactions and policies, parishes, organisations and institutions are to recognise only a person's biological sex". And, as well, people must use toilets and adhere to dress codes associated with their birth gender.

In another diocese, pastors have been told to deny trans, gay and non-binary Catholics the sacraments "unless the person has repented".

"Many of our bishops are anti-science. They are cold and cruel" says a nun who has ministered to trans people. "You can't respect people and deny their existence at the same time".

Occasionally though, a parish shows an entirely different, more welcoming look.

At one parish's annual Pride Mass in support of LGBTQ people, the priest invited a transgender woman to deliver part of the homily.

"We are not disordered, confused or a fad" she said. "We are not trying to defy God, nor to play God".

"By staying visible, not only outside these walls but inside our churches, we change hearts and minds one person at a time".

Another parish observes the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance which commemorates people killed due to anti-trans violence.

"We must always stand up against hatred in all its forms and not allow others' fears (or phobias) to be a reason for hatred" the priest wrote in the parish bulletin.

"Rather, we must continue to learn more about the experience of others and to become more tolerant and accepting of one another".

Grassroots activism on behalf of greater inclusivity will accelerate as more parishes add LGBTQ ministries, one trans woman hopes.

For young trans Catholics, the conflicting approaches of individual churches and clergy can challenge them and their parents.

"A place that had once been a safe haven for me had become a place of danger" one said.

"But since coming out my spirituality has grown. I feel whole for the first time in my life".

His mother, a convert, now has mixed feelings, and a nun who ministered to transgender people for decades says friction over transgender inclusion is likely to intensify.

"There has never been a time in the American church when the catholic hierarchy has had less moral credibility," she said.

"The people in the pews are taking responsibility for doing their own homework and recognising that we are all God's people".

Source

• HuffPost
• Image: America Magazine

A Twitter account was initially created as a parody of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. But it has taken on a new meaning with two invitations for Catholics.

In one tweet, it asked people to share the time they felt most at home in the Catholic Church; in another, it asked people to share the time they felt least at home in the Catholic Church.

The invitation to share moments of exclusion and hurt at the hands of the church generated a significant response.

Some of the responders shared experiences that caused them to leave the Catholic Church.

Many others expressed embarrassment that they had witnessed or personally experienced hurt in a church to which they still belong, a church they still love and want to trust.

The responders had many different stories to tell of grappling with the Catholic Church, and with elements of their own identities. But they shared a common desire for the church to take a clear look at its shortcomings and strive to do better.

Richard "Rickard" Morin is autistic and dyslexic. He remembered "being told by well-meaning parishioners that...I didn't have enough faith because I said prayer won't make me not be autistic and dyslexic."

He went on to share the discomfort he feels "anytime a Catholic says vaccines ‘cause autism.'

Flora Tang who identifies as queer, tweeted about a homily she heard during her days as a master's student. "... the priest went on a 5-min long rant during the homily about how ‘[people] are inventing what marriage means these days' and other homophobic stuff. I pretty much just sobbed out loud in my pew for the rest of Mass."

"Hearing the homophobic remarks wasn't surprising, but nonetheless hurtful as I was a queer Catholic who was just trying to worship that day," she said.

Dr Marcus Mescher's tweet in response to the parody account hit on experiences at Mass that so many Catholics can recognize. "Anytime a priest uses his homily to shame a person or group makes parishioners think 'Do I matter? Do I count? Do I belong?'"

Mescher noted that there are 30 million former Catholics in the United States today.

It's a group that has more members than any religious denomination in the country besides Catholics.

As far as he's concerned, that number reflects a church in crisis. He hopes that anyone who considers that an urgent matter will take stories like the ones shared on Twitter seriously.

"If we ignore this, not only is nothing going to change, but we're going to keep wounding people," he said.

Mescher suggests that we take a constructive turn and ask another telling question: "What would it be like to build the kind of church we want?"

Sources

America Magazine

According to two bishops familiar with the process, the work of the group is now complete and the group's proposal to produce a document on the question of Communion will be addressed by the U.S. bishops' Committee on Doctrine.

Chieko Noguchi, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, declined to comment.

The group, originally announced on Nov. 17, met virtually on two occasions. As NCR first reported last month, its 10-person committee did not include Biden's local bishops in Washington, D.C., or his home state of Delaware.

Read More

The Nov. 16-17 virtual meeting involved about 300 bishops on Zoom and many viewers watching the livestreamed public portions.

The two days of discussions went off without a hitch, save for the occasional bishop either on mute or repeating: "Can you hear me?" while Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, gave the thumbs-up sign from the USCCB studio that was the command center for these sessions.

The archbishop, led the meeting along with Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron of Detroit, USCCB vice president and Msgr. J. Brian Bransfield, outgoing USCCB general secretary. The three sat at a desk behind plexiglass separators, quite different from the dais on the hotel ballroom stage at typical bishops' meetings.

Read More

He was one of 13 new cardinals announced by Pope Francis at the end of his Angelus address on October 25th.

Nine of the new appointees are under the age of 80. They will be eligible to vote in a papal conclave along with 119 other cardinals. The other four churchmen will wear their red hats as a sign of esteem and honour.

Along with Gregory from the USA, the pope chose as cardinal electors two officials of the Roman Curia and bishops from Italy, Rwanda, the Philippines, Chile and Brunei.

The 72-year-old Gregory, ordained in his native Chicago in 1973, took over leadership of the capital's archdiocese last year after serving as archbishop of Atlanta since 2005.

Gregory has been praised for his handling of the sexual abuse scandal that has shaken the church.

He helped shape the church's "zero tolerance" response to the sexual abuse scandal while serving as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops from 2001 to 2004.

Gregory has also spoken recently about the importance of Catholic leaders working to combat the sin of racial discrimination. The Washington D.C. archdiocese has created an anti-racism initiative under his leadership, offering focused prayer and listening sessions.

Additionally, Gregory has drawn notice for his more inclusive treatment of LGBTQ Catholics. In 2014, he wrote an encouraging column about his conversations with a group of Catholic parents of LGBTQ children.

Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, which represents LGBTQ Catholics, said his group is "very excited" to see Gregory's elevation and connected it back to Francis' recently reported comments supporting civil unions for same-sex couples.

Recently the outspoken Gregory made headlines for issuing a statement critical of President Donald Trump's visit to the Saint John Paul II National Shrine.

That visit came just one day after the president made his controversial visit to an Episcopal church in Washington. This is where demonstrators were forcefully cleared to facilitate Trump's photo opportunity.

Gregory commented that he considered "it baffling and reprehensible that any Catholic facility would allow itself to be so egregiously misused and manipulated."

The consistory confirming the appointments will be held in late November. The details of the event are yet to be announced.

Due to Covid-19 restrictions on travel and gatherings, a non-traditional consistory may be organised.

The full list of the new cardinals, in the order named by the pope:

• Bishop Mario Grech, 63, secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops.
• Bishop Marcello Semeraro, 72, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes.
• Archbishop Antoine Kambanda of Kigali, Rwanda, who will turn 62 Nov. 10.
• Archbishop Gregory, 72.
• Archbishop Jose F. Advincula of Capiz, Philippines, 68.
• Archbishop Celestino Aos Braco of Santiago, Chile, 75.
• Bishop Cornelius Sim, apostolic vicar of Brunei, 69.
• Archbishop Paolo Lojudice of Siena, 56.
• Father Mauro Gambetti, custos of the Sacred Convent of Assisi in Assisi, who was to celebrate his 55th birthday Oct. 27.
• Retired Bishop Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel of San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico, 80.
• Retired Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi, a former nuncio, 80.
• Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher of the papal household, 86.
• Father Enrico Feroci, 80, former director of Rome's Caritas.

Sources

• Today
• Catholic News Service

They want the USCCB to ask for all the relevant documents and the results of diocesan and archdiocesan investigations about McCarrick to be released.

Both the National Advisory Council to the US Bishops (NAC) and the National Review Board (NRB), a lay advisory group to the US bishops on protecting minors from abuse, urged the bishops to press for the release of the documentation.

The "salvation of souls is the supreme law of the Church," they said.

"Care for your people must be at the forefront when dealing with this issue."

The 13-member NRB was constituted by the USCCB in 2002, after revelations of the sexual abuse of minors by clerics that spanned decades and which occurred around the country.

The board advises the USCCB Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People.

The NAC meets ahead of the bishops' biannual meetings and considers their agenda for the meetings, offering support or criticism of each agenda item.

Besides calling for the publication of the McCarrick documents, both advisory bodies expressed concern over the proposed USCCB directives for implementing Pope Francis's motu proprio Vos estis lux mundi (You are the light of the world) as a response to the abuse crisis.

In particular, the Chair of the NAC said the motu proprio directives encourage the involvement of the laity by metropolitans when investigating sex abuse allegations of bishops, but do not require such involvement of lay experts.

Besides the possibility of leaving out qualified experts from investigations, it would give the "perception of bishops investigating bishops," Raines said.

The Chair of the NRB had similar concerns.

"While the NRB commends the Holy See for taking such a strong step forward in terms of holding all clerics accountable for abuse, the Chair said the board "remains uncomfortable" with the model of metropolitans overseeing the investigations of abuse allegations against other bishops.

"Lay involvement is key to restoring the credibility of the Church," he emphasized. Leaving them out of the investigation process "would signal a continuation of a culture of self-preservation that would suggest complicity."

The NRB also wants the audit process contained in the Dallas Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People (2002) to be improved and expanded.

The Charter was drafted as a response to the national revelations of sexual abuse of minors by clerics.

The annual audit measures compliance with the charter's protective and preventative measures.

"Now is the time to raise the bar on compliance to ensure the mistakes of the past are not completed," the NRB Chair said.

Historically, bishops have expressed concerns about the expansion of the audit process, warning that "audit creep" could pose privacy risks and step on their authority as bishops to oversee the implementation of the charter.

Source

• Catholic Herald
• Image: The Times of Israel

Dreamers are undocumented migrants who arrived in the US as children.

Bishop Joe Vásquez says the US Catholic Bishops conference supports the bipartisan "Uniting and Securing America" (USA) Act of 2018 as it is currently written.

Vásquez chairs the conference's Committee on Migration.

The Act offers Dreamers with protection from deportation and a path to citizenship.

It also increases border security technology at the US/Mexico border.

There are various ways it achieves this.

New technology is one way. The Act also makes it possible to increase the number of immigration judges and Board of Immigration Appeals staff attorneys, and seeks to address root causes and prevent future irregular migration from Central America.

"We are hopeful our support of the current version of the USA Act, and our continued support of the Dream Act, will encourage Congress to act now and find a humane legislative solution for Dreamers," Vásquez says.

"Every day, my brother bishops and I witness directly the constant anxiety of Dreamer youth and their families, and that experience of urgency moves us to press Congress for an immediate and durable solution to this problem."

Vásquez's announcement followed a Federal Judge's statement that the Trump administration's decision to terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme was based on the "virtually unexplained" grounds that it was "unlawful."

The programme protects Dreamers from deportation and allows them to work.

The judge stayed his decision for 90 days.

He has given the Department of Homeland Security the opportunity to better explain its reasoning for canceling the programme.

If the Department fails to offer a rationale, the judge will tell them to begin accepting and processing new applications. They will also have to renew applications for current DACA recipients.

Source

• Ignatian Solidarity
• Zenit
• Image: Ignatian Solidarity Network

The USCCB says the change is a "return to common sense, long-standing federal practice, and peaceful coexistence between church and state."

The change provides "a broad religious and moral exemption from the mandate requiring employers to fund health insurance cover for sterilisation, contraception, and drugs and devices that may cause abortions."

Besides those already exempt from the birth control mandate, the change will exempt any nonprofit groups that have a religious or moral objection to contraception coverage. For-profit groups that are not publicly traded will also be able to be exempt for religious reasons. Insurance companies with a religious affiliation are also exempt from the birth control mandate.

The change in the policy took effect last Friday.

Among the reasons offered for the change in policy are Trump's promises in relation to issues on religious freedom and 50 lawsuits filed by groups challenging the Obamacare coverage requirement.

"No American should be forced to violate his or her own conscience in order to abide by the laws and regulations governing our healthcare system," Caitlin Oakley, HHS press secretary, said.

The USCCB issued a statement after the change in the mandate was announced.

"The Administration's decision to provide a broad religious and moral exemption to the HHS mandate recognizes that the full range of faith-based and mission-driven organisations, as well as the people who run them, have deeply held religious and moral beliefs that the law must respect. Such an exemption is no innovation, but instead a return to common sense, long-standing federal practice, and peaceful coexistence between church and state. It corrects an anomalous failure by federal regulators that should never have occurred and should never be repeated.

"These regulations are good news for the Little Sisters of the Poor and others who are challenging the HHS mandate in court. We urge the government to take the next logical step and promptly resolve the litigation that the Supreme Court has urged the parties to settle.

"The regulations are also good news for all Americans. A government mandate that coerces people to make an impossible choice between obeying their consciences and obeying the call to serve the poor is harmful, not only to Catholics, but to the common good as well.

"Religious freedom is a fundamental right for all, so when it is threatened for some, it is threatened for all.

"We welcome the news that this particular threat to religious freedom has been lifted and, with the encouragement of Pope Francis, we will remain 'vigilant, precisely as good citizens, to preserve and defend that freedom from everything that would threaten or compromise it.'"