Local

Bishop Burbidge elected chairman-elect of Communications Committee

Dennis Sadowski | Catholic News Service

Arlington Bishop Michael F. Burbidge was elected chairman-elect of the USCCB Communications Committee Nov. 14 in Baltimore. CATHOLIC HERALD FILE PHOTO

CROP_Bishop-Burbidge_20170903_Hispanic_Mass_HJP_056.jpg

Arlington Bishop Michael F. Burbidge watches a video during the Nov. 12 presentation in Baltimore on the centenary of the USCCB. BOB ROLLER | CNS

CROP_burbidge-video.jpg

BALTIMORE – Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge, Bishop of the
Diocese of Arlington, was elected chairman-elect of the Communications Committee
of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops during the fall general assembly in
Baltimore.

“It is such an honor to have been selected by my brother bishops
as the Chairman-elect of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Committee on Communications,” said Bishop Burbidge in a statement released Nov.
14. “I am grateful for the trust they have placed in me and I will strive to
continue the tremendous work of the committee throughout my tenure.

 

“In the midst of so many moral and social issues, the Church
speaks the Truth and Joy of the Gospel,” Bishop Burbidge said. “Thus, the use
of effective and creative communications tools must be properly utilized so to
reach as many people as possible. With God’s grace, the USCCB Committee on
Communications will always offer great support and assistance in that process.”

The Communications Committee assists the bishops, both
individually and collectively, to take advantage of the opportunities offered
by the communications media as “pathways to intensify communion and to render
more penetrating the proclamation of his word” (John Paul II, The Rapid
Development, 2005).

The committee seeks to support the work of evangelization and
faith formation through a comprehensive approach to media that includes media
relations, media production and programming, policy, review of entertainment
media, publishing, distribution, and licensing with sensitivity toward
culturally diverse communities.

Bishop Christopher J. Coyne of Burlington, Vt., is the committee’s
current chairman.

In other votes Nov. 14, Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron of Detroit
will be the next secretary of the USCCB, taking office next November.

Votes also were cast for a new chairman of the bishops’ Committee
for Religious Liberty and chairmen-elect for the committees on Cultural
Diversity in the Church, Doctrine, National Collections and Pro-Life
Activities.

Archbishop Vigneron will succeed New Orleans Archbishop Gregory
M. Aymond, who is starting his third and final year of his three-year term. The
Detroit prelate will serve one year as secretary-elect and then start a
three-year term in office at the conclusion of the 2018 fall general assembly.

Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., was elected chairman of the Committee on
Religious Liberty. He was to assume his duties at the conclusion of the
assembly.

At their spring meeting in June, the bishops voted to make what
was an ad hoc religious liberty body a permanent standing committee. Baltimore
Archbishop William E. Lori served as chairman of the committee since its
creation in 2011.

Bishops also voted for chairmen-elect of four other committees.
Those elected will serve for one year before beginning three-year terms at the
conclusion of the bishops’ 2018 fall general assembly.

Those elected include:

— Committee on Pro-Life Activities: Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of
Kansas City, Kan.

— Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church: Bishop Nelson J.
Perez of Cleveland.

— Committee on Doctrine: Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort
Wayne-South Bend, Ind.

— Committee on National Collections: Bishop Joseph R. Cistone of
Saginaw, Mich.

 

Bishops also were to choose six members for the CRS board. An
electronic vote was bypassed in favor of a paper ballot. Results were to be
announced before the conclusion of the assembly.

Related Articles