The Dialog

By TheDialog

By Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON — Kim Daniels has been hired by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to serve as the spokeswoman for New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, USCCB president.

Daniels most recently served as one of two directors of Catholic Voices USA, started last year. The group’s website said its mission was “to put the church’s case in the public square” by offering “an authoritative, but not official, group of articulate speakers who make the Catholic case in interviews and debates.”

The organization also conducted media training along the New York-Washington corridor for young adults looking to espouse church positions on political issues.

Speaking March 20 at a “Catholics in the Capitol” program in Albany, N.Y., Daniels said of Catholic Voices USA, “We start from the conviction that faith enriches public life. From 19th-century abolitionists to those who marched for civil rights in the 20th century, from those who’ve tirelessly fought poverty to those who’ve struggled for decades now in the trenches of the pro-life movement, our civic life is undeniably made better when people of faith bring their beliefs to bear on public issues, and we shouldn’t let anybody tell us otherwise.”

Daniels and Helen Alvare, a George Mason University law professor who was the first director of public information for the USCCB’s Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities in the early 1990s, also started last year Women Speak for Themselves, an online advocacy group working to block the federal Health and Human Services contraceptive mandate under the Affordable Care Act. The organization’s online petition opposing the mandate gathered more than 38,000 signatures.

She also served as a domestic policy adviser to Sarah Palin after Palin resigned as Alaska governor.

Daniels, an attorney, worked as counsel for the Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor, Mich. She specialized in conscience-rights issues, testifying in opposing legislation that would place regulations on pro-life pregnancy crisis centers and bills that would force pharmacists to dispense morning-after pills. She is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Chicago Law School.

She and her husband have six school-age children and live in the Washington suburb of Bethesda, Md.

In March 2012, Cardinal Dolan, speaking at a New York archdiocesan diocesan convocation on public policy in Hicksville, N.Y., illustrated the need to have the church’s message articulated by someone who could connect with the laity.

He recalled when the bishops had hired an “attractive, articulate, intelligent” laywoman to make the church’s case on abortion and it was “the best thing we ever did,” adding, “In the public square, I hate to tell you — the days of fat, balding Irish bishops are over.”

By Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON — New proposed regulations governing the contraceptive mandate under the Affordable Care Act continue to violate basic principles of religious freedom, said the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

In comments filed March 20 with the Department of Health and Human Services, the USCCB raised a series of concerns, among them being that the new proposals keep in place “an unjust and unlawful mandate” regarding the provision of contraceptive and other pregnancy services and that the rules provide no exemption, or accommodation, for “most stakeholders in the health insurance process, such as individual employees and for-profit employers,” who are morally opposed to such coverage. Read more »

By Joseph Ryan

Dialog Editor

Bishop Malooly has announced the diocese will conduct monthly Eucharistic Holy Hours beginning Jan. 27 through November as part of the U.S. bishops’ Call to Prayer movement during the Year of Faith.

The bishops initiated Call to Prayer at their November meeting in Baltimore to help build a culture in the United States that’s favorable to life, marriage and increased protections for religious liberty.

Call to Prayer is part of a national movement for life, marriage and religious liberty, which are foundational to Catholic social teaching and the good of society, said Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Subcommittee for Promotion and Defense of Marriage.

Bishop Malooly said the holy hours in the Diocese of Wilmington will be conducted in a different church each month. The first, which will be led by the bishop, is scheduled for Jan. 27, 4 p.m. at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Wilmington.

Additional dates and locations will be announced in coming weeks.

The Call to Prayer has been “prompted by the rapid social movements and policy changes currently underway, such as the mandate by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that coerces employers, including heads of religious agencies, to pay for sterilizations, abortion-inducing drugs and contraceptives, as well as increased efforts to redefine marriage,” the U.S. bishops said in a December news release.

Three bishops who are U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ leaders in pro-life, pro-marriage and religious liberty efforts announced the Call to Prayer movement last month:

• Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities;

• Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco, chairman of the Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage; and

• Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty.

For the good of society

The aim of Call to Prayer is to encourage Catholics to prayer and sacrifice; “it’s meant to be simple,” said Archbishop Cordileone. It’s part of a movement for “life, marriage, and religious liberty, which engages the New Evangelization and can be incorporated into the Year of Faith. Life, marriage, and religious liberty are not only foundational to Catholic social teaching but also fundamental to the good of society.”

Pope Benedict has called the Year of Faith, which began last Oct. 11 on the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council and ends next November, “a year to acquire a more conscious and vigorous adherence to the Gospel, especially at a time of profound change such as humanity is currently experiencing.”

The Call to Prayer in the United States during the Year of Faith addresses the recent changes in American attitudes on life issues, traditional marriage and religious liberty that have arisen as a result of such issues as the HHS mandate for contraception and initiatives on same-sex marriage.

Five components

The Call to Prayer has five components, according to the U.S. bishops’ plan. They include:

• Establishing monthly holy hours for life, marriage and religious liberty.

• Encouraging Catholics to pray a daily rosary for the preservation of life, marriage and religious liberty in the nation.

The rosary, long a favorite devotion of pro-life activists, is an appropriate prayer for life, family and religious liberty because it invokes Mary, the mother of evangelization, to lead all to Christ. It’s also a prayer that strengthens family life and its Hail Marys recall Mary’s acceptance of God’s will in becoming the mother of God.

• Including specific intentions in Sunday and daily Prayers of the Faithful for respect for all human life from conception to natural death, the strengthening of marriage and family life, and the preservation of religious liberty at all levels of government, both at home and abroad.

• Encouraging abstinence from meat and fasting on Fridays for the intention of the protection of life, marriage, and religious liberty, thereby recognizing the importance of spiritual and bodily sacrifice in the life of the church.

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, said during the bishops’ November meeting that the task of evangelizing American culture should begin with bishops first recognizing their sins and experiencing “the grace of repentance.” The cardinal also called all Catholics to re-embrace Friday as a day of penance and consider abstaining from meat as a prayerful sacrifice.

• Observing a second Fortnight for Freedom at the end of June and beginning of July. The fortnight would emphasize faith and marriage in a particular way in the face of the potential Supreme Court rulings during this time. The Fortnight would also emphasize the need for conscience protection in light of the Aug.1 deadline for religious organizations to comply with the HHS mandate, as well as religious freedom concerns in other areas, such as immigration, adoption, and humanitarian services.

Stamina and courage

“With the challenges this country is facing, it is hoped that this call to prayer and penance will help build awareness among the faithful as well as spiritual stamina and courage for effective witness. We also hope that it will encourage solidarity with all people who are standing for the precious gifts of life, marriage, and religious liberty,” Archbishop Cordileone said.

By USCCB

Catholics can deepen their experience of the Year of Faith by strengthening their prayer lives, says the bishop who chairs the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis.

Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay, Wis., offers “10 Prayers for the Year of Faith” as a way of drawing Catholics more deeply into the Year of Faith. Pope Benedict XVI called for the Year of Faith, which began in October and ends on Nov. 24. The prayers the bishop suggests are:

• The Nicene Creed

I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.

I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic church. I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.

• The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, Who art in heaven,

Hallowed be Thy Name.

Thy Kingdom come.

Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

.• The Hail Mary

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of death. Amen.

• The Glory Be

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

• The Magnificat

The Magnificat, the Canticle of Mary in the Gospel of Luke (1:46-55), gives a glimpse of the faith of someone who trusted God so much that he entered the world through her.

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.

He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm, he has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children forever.

• The Canticle of Zechariah

Also found in Luke (1:68-79), this prayer is a testament of faith from someone experiencing God’s goodness at work in the world.

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and brought redemption to his people.

He has raised up a horn for our salvation within the house of David his servant, even as he promised through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old: salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to show mercy to our fathers and to be mindful of his holy covenant and of the oath he swore to Abraham our father, and to grant us that, rescued from the hand of enemies, without fear we might worship him in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

And you, child, will be called prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our Gods by which the daybreak from on high will visit us to shine on those who sit in darkness and death’s shadow, to guide our feet into the path of peace.

• The Memorare

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided.

Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.

• Acts of Contrition, Faith, Hope and Love

 Act of Contrition

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven, and the pains of hell; but most of all because they offend thee, my God, who are all good and deserving of all my love.

I firmly resolve, with the help of thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. Amen.

Act of Faith

O my God, I firmly believe that you are one God in three Divine Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; I believe that your divine Son became man, and died for our sins, and that he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths the holy Catholic Church teaches because you have revealed them, who can neither deceive nor be deceived. Amen.

Act of Hope

O my God, relying on your almighty power and infinite mercy and promises, I hope to obtain pardon of my sins, the help of your grace and life everlasting, through the merits of Jesus Christ, my Lord and redeemer. Amen.

Act of Love

O my God, I love you above all things, with my whole heart and soul, because you are all-good and worthy of all love. I love my neighbor as myself for the love of you. I forgive all who have injured me, and I ask pardon of all whom I have injured. Amen.

• The Angel prayers

Children learn the prayer to their guardian angel, and adults learn the prayer to St. Michael the archangel. Both are reminders of the need to ask for God’s protection and guidance every day.

Prayer to Guardian Angel

Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God’s love commits me here, ever this day, be at my side, to light and guard, rule and guide. Amen.

Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits, who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

• Prayer for the New Evangelization

Heavenly Father, pour forth your Holy Spirit to inspire me with these words from Holy Scripture. Stir in my soul the desire to renew my faith and deepen my relationship with your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ so that I might truly believe in and live the Good News.

Open my heart to hear the Gospel and grant me the confidence to proclaim the Good News to others.

Pour out your Spirit, so that I might be strengthened to go forth and witness to the Gospel in my everyday life through my words and actions.

In moments of hesitation, remind me: If not me, then who will proclaim the Gospel? If not now, then when will the Gospel be proclaimed? If not the truth of the Gospel, then what shall I proclaim?

God, our Father, I pray that through the Holy Spirit I might hear the call of the New Evangelization to deepen my faith, grow in confidence to proclaim the Gospel and boldly witness to the saving grace of your Son, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

More prayers are at: www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/how-we-teach/new-evangelization/year-of-faith/prayer-in-the-year-of-faith.cfm.

By Mark Pattison

Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON —The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, and 2013, considering when the House of Representatives passed it, will be known as much by what it doesn’t include as what it does include.

The legislation, among other things, extends the farm bill by nine months, which prevents milk prices from doubling. But the extension also keeps intact other provisions that farming advocates say are wasteful.

The U.S. Capitol dome is seen behind the entrance to the House of Representatives on Capitol Hill in Washington in early November. (CNS photo/Larry Downing, Reuters)

Bob Gronski, a policy analyst for the National Catholic Rural Life Conference, said he was “disappointed with the lack of reform and the lack of money for conservation programs” in the farm bill extension.

“They (Congress) didn’t change the direct payments” that were going to eradicated under the proposed bill. “That didn’t happen. So there was disappointment with that. And the USCCB (U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops) and we have been calling for that.”

Even so, Gronski said, “we were 36 hours away from going over the cliff. So Mitch McConnell and Joe Biden got together and did what had to be done.” Biden, who as U.S. vice president is president of the Senate, and McConnell, R-Ky., the Senate minority leader, brokered the bill that passed 89-8 in the Senate and 257-167 in the House.

The Rev. David Beckmann, a Lutheran minister who is president of Bread for the World, an anti-hunger lobby, said the compromise legislation “isn’t perfect, but it is a good deal that will prevent major economic damage that would have affected hungry and poor people the most.”

He said positive elements in the bill include a five-year extension on improvements made to the earned-income tax credit and child tax credit over the last decade, and the one-year extension of emergency unemployment benefits for one year, which will affect an estimated 2 million out-of-work Americans.

“Budgets are moral documents. Their impact on those whom the Bible refers to as ‘the least of these’ tells the world what kind of country we are,” he said in a Jan. 2 statement.

The legislation includes permanently lower income tax rates for an estimated 98 percent of Americans, no more sliding deadline for cuts originally enacted when George W. Bush was president, but no agreement on how to deal with tax breaks and loopholes.

The bill increases taxes on individuals making $400,000 a year and couples making $450,000 a year that will garner, by White House estimates, an extra $737 billion in revenue in the next 10 years, but there’s no action on a debt ceiling that has already hit the $16 trillion mark.

It puts off for two months the specter of sequestration, the automatic budget cuts that go into effect if no agreement is reached.

There’s a “doc fix” that avoids slashing the reimbursement rates doctors are paid for treating Medicare patients, but no “Sandy fix,” i.e., disaster relief aid for East Coast cities and states hit by late-October Hurricane Sandy.

Anticipating the debt-ceiling battle to come, President Barack Obama said late Jan. 1, 35 minutes after the House’s 10:45 p.m. vote to pass the bill, “We can’t not pay bills that we’ve already incurred.

“If Congress refuses to give the United States government the ability to pay these bills on time, the consequences for the entire global economy would be catastrophic, far worse than the impact of a fiscal cliff,” he said.

In separate remarks Jan. 2, Obama urged the House to vote on Hurricane Sandy relief aid that day, before the 112th Congress adjourns; the new Congress elected in November was to be sworn in Jan. 4.

“The Senate passed this request with bipartisan support. But the House of Representatives has refused to act, even as there are families and communities who still need our help to rebuild in the months and years ahead, and who also still need immediate support with the bulk of winter still in front of us,” he said.

Members of Congress and other elected officials from the affected states lashed out at House leaders Jan. 2 for not having taken a vote. Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., said the inaction was another reason why voters “hate Congress.”

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., said he was promised by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, that separate votes on Sandy relief would be held Jan. 4 and Jan. 15 in the new Congress, which would then require a new vote by the Senate.

By Patricia Zapor

Catholic News Service

The Supreme Court will take up in the spring two cases over the constitutionality of same-sex marriage.

In orders issued Dec. 7, the court agreed to hear a case over California’s Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage, and one out of New York over the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which defines a marriage as being between one man and one woman.

A groom and bride hold hands on their wedding day. The U.S. Supreme Court announced Dec. 7 that it will hear two cases challenging federal and a state laws that define marriage as a union of a man and a woman. (CNS file photo/Jon L. Hendricks)

The cases likely will be on the court’s calendar for argument in March, with a ruling before the end of the term in late June.

After weeks of court-watching when the petitions for review of more than half a dozen cases over the same-sex marriage were on the justices’ list for consideration, the orders Dec. 7 suggested the justices worked at covering multiple bases in what they granted, noted court-watchers at the Supreme Court blog, SCOTUSblog.

The orders focused on two issues: how marriage is defined and whether same-sex couples who are legally married are entitled to the same kind of spousal benefits as heterosexual spouses.

In each case, the court noted that it would first consider whether the parties involved have legal standing, meaning the court could toss out both cases on the basis of who brought the lawsuits and not actually address the underlying constitutional issues at all. If that happened, the court could take up other cases to get to the constitutionality.

The orders also asked the parties in the New York case to first help the justices consider whether the key part of DOMA even holds, because the federal government has said it is not constitutional and has declined to defend it.

DOMA, signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996, was a reaction to Hawaii’s Supreme Court ruling in 1993 that the state had to show a compelling interest to prohibit same-sex marriage, leading to concerns that a subsequent challenge would make the practice legal. DOMA defines marriage as only between one man and one woman for the purposes of the federal government, including for Social Security benefits, federal programs and federal estate and income taxes.

Although subsequent administrations supported DOMA in court, early in 2011, Attorney General Eric Holder announced the agency would no longer defend the law. Holder said that after review of recommendations including his own, President Barack Obama had concluded that DOMA’s definition of marriage as applied to same-sex couples fails to hold up to constitutional scrutiny.

Saying he prayed that the court would uphold the traditional definition of marriage, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco, chairman of the Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the court’s decision to take the cases is a “significant moment for our nation.”

In a Dec. 7 statement, Archbishop Cordileone said traditional marriage between one man and one woman “is as old as humanity” and is the foundation of a just society because it protects children, “the most vulnerable among us.”

Nine states and the District of Columbia allow or will soon begin allowing same-sex marriage. That includes, Maryland, Maine and Washington, which passed laws approving it in November’s election, while Minnesota voters defeated a referendum seeking to ban it. Thirty-one states have constitutional amendments prohibiting same-sex marriage.

Many of the cases the court has been asked to hear revolve around the question of employee or survivor benefits for spouses who married in states where same-sex marriage is permitted. Other challenges relate to bankruptcy, immigration and military benefits.

The cases the court accepted are: Hollingsworth v. Perry, which asks whether the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment prohibits the State of California from defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman, as Prop. 8 does; and Windsor v. United States, in which a New York woman sued over having to pay $363,000 in federal estate taxes after the death of her wife. If she had been married to a man, she would have been exempt from the taxes.

By Catholic News Service

ATLANTA — Some 200 national immigration leaders surveyed the landscape of immigration reform at the federal and state level during a three-day Catholic conference in Atlanta Dec. 3-5.

Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory of Atlanta told the leaders that while the federal government recently acted to offer young people brought into the country as children some relief by postponing deportation and granting them work permits if they qualify, the U.S. Catholic bishops will continue to advocate for comprehensive reform with more opportunities, particularly for families and those already living and working in the United States.

Elena Segura, director of the Archdiocese of Chicago’€™s Office for Immigrant Affairs and Immigration Education, listens to Atlanta Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory’s keynote address at dinner Dec. 3 during a Migration Policy and Advocacy program in Atlanta. The three-day conference, sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Legal Immigration Network, examined migration from federal, state and local perspectives as well as methods for advancing the church’s migration policy agenda in 2013 and beyond. (CNS photo/ Michael Alexander, Georgia Bulletin)

The bishops “will resist” any proposal that offers undocumented individuals legal status without a path to become citizens, he said in a Dec. 3 keynote address.

“We will argue against the creation of a permanent underclass in this country, where certain parts of our population do not have the rights that others do,” Archbishop Gregory said to applause.

The conference was organized by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc., known as CLINIC. It was titled “Migration Policy and Advocacy in 2013 and Beyond: New Challenges and New Opportunities.”

In his keynote, Archbishop Gregory drew a connection to Atlanta’s native son, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and the civil rights movement, saying that has shown the “disastrous results” when people are denied their full rights.

“Our nation has been down this road before, with disastrous results. As we know from our nation’s history, many persons, including Dr. King, have fought and died so that all persons can enjoy the full rights of citizenship. We cannot forsake this principle for the purpose of political expediency,” the archbishop said.

A second priority of the U.S. bishops, he said, is to ensure that “family reunification remains the cornerstone of our nation’s immigration policy.”

Many families with some members who are U.S. citizens are divided by the current policies and others applying for family reunification wait for years, he said. The system needs to ensure families remain together and the immigration process moves quicker, he said. And reform should not replace a family-based system with a system that “places value on a person’s resume over a person’s family ties.”

Recently, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a measure to increase visas for foreigners who earned advanced graduate degrees in the U.S. for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It did away with the diversity visa system.

The archbishop said the bishops “accept and support reasonable enforcement measures” for the integrity of the nation’s borders and to protect the common good of citizens. However, “such measures must respect basic human rights and dignity” and include due process protections for immigrants and their families, he said.

Too often over the past 25 years, the government has “pursued an enforcement-only immigration policy,” he said. “We have witnessed the results of this policy in the inhumane detention conditions in which many immigrants are held in this country; the separation of parents from their children due to deportation; and the deaths of thousands of our brothers and sisters in the American desert,” he said.

Archbishop Gregory also linked the need for immigration reform and religious freedom.

He said a number of states, including Georgia, enacted laws that criminalized actions of “all citizens who, in the exercise of their religious teachings, want to assist those in need.”

Federal courts intervened to prevent enforcement of these laws, but “we must continue our vigilance and our advocacy against legislation which demeans human beings and interferes with religious freedom.”

The Catholic perspective on immigrants is rooted in the theological truth that all human beings are made in the image of God and retain that dignity, regardless of their circumstances.

In the Old Testament, God commanded his people to welcome the alien and stranger, and in the New Testament, Christians are told they encounter Jesus himself in the face of the stranger, Archbishop Gregory said.

“As bishops and as a church, we do not seek immigration reform based on some political calculus of how many votes can be garnered by one political party or the other,” he said. “We seek justice for all migrating peoples because they are our brothers and sisters and are made in God’s image.”

Conference workshops covered a variety of topics, from recent federal court rulings and the future of immigration reform to reaction from state leaders to the two-year reprieve from deportation with President Barack Obama’s federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Conference attendees talked about glimmers of hope to rewrite immigration laws following the election, but also said vigilance was needed.

Pat Chivers, director of communications for the Atlanta Archdiocese, said she hopes immigration reform becomes one of priorities of the incoming Congress and the Obama administration.

Chivers said the political parties learned how “powerful the Hispanic community is in voting and contributing to the political process.” That awareness “has definitely brought immigration reform to the forefront of issues to be addressed this year,” she told The Georgia Bulletin, Atlanta’s archdiocesan newspaper.

Sister Marie Lucey, director of advocacy at the Franciscan Action Network in Washington, said she hoped the president “holds true to his word” to make immigration reform a priority.

“There is a lot of hope in the immigrant community that something is going to happen. We have to be very vigilant about what form immigration reform will take,” said Sister Lucey, who is a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia.

Paulette Croteau, from Tennessee, attended to learn more so she could share the issues with her parish. She’s the director of religious education at her small church, with a sizable majority of Hispanics.

“I see fear. I see hostility. My heart cries because my Hispanic brothers and sisters are getting a raw deal,” she said.

By Dennis Sadowski

Catholic News Service

BALTIMORE — In an effort to strengthen its communications and public relations efforts, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops approved the hiring of a director of public affairs as efforts begin to reorganize the conference’s Communications Department.

The position would work to unify messages on the activities and stances of the USCCB, not individual dioceses or bishops, and better carry out church campaigns related to the new evangelization, said Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, USCCB president.

The Nov. 13 vote on hiring the director of public affairs was 202-25 with four abstentions during the bishops’ annual fall general assembly in Baltimore.

Cardinal Dolan told the assembly that whoever fills the position also would likely speak on behalf of the USCCB to the media and provide background on church teaching to public officials and in other venues.

The person appointed to the position would be responsible for developing a “more intentional, focused, comprehensive and unified communications strategy” based on church teaching and focused on promoting the new evangelization, according to a supporting document distributed a day before the vote.

“The strategy,” the document said, ‘should create strong and powerful messages that result in a higher level of understanding and acceptance by Catholics and other audiences.”

Auxiliary Bishop Christopher J. Coyne of Indianapolis cautioned that when hiring someone who may speak on behalf of the USCCB, it should be clear that the person only represents the conference. He also urged that the new director of public affairs to be well versed in church teaching, structure and ecclesiology and be able to talk about such topics authoritatively.

He also said that any bishop who might publicly question or refute a response from the public affairs director would undermine the USCCB’s communications effort.

In response, Cardinal Dolan said the director’s role as spokesperson “would not be his or her full-time major occupation, but it would be part of it.” During those times when speaking on behalf of the conference, the person would be restating positions taken by the USCCB as a whole rather than staking out new positions or engaging in debates in the media, he said.

The cardinal reiterated that the effort to hire a director of public affairs is part of a reorganization of the conference’s Communications Department as the USCCB strives to unify its communications effort around church teaching and the new evangelization.

In calling for the reorganization, Cardinal Dolan said the communications effort of the USCCB must take advantage of new communications technologies as people adopt new ways of obtaining information.

The cost of hiring a public affairs director and support staff and other services is estimated at $400,000 annually, according to the supporting document.

Bishop Blase J. Cupich of Spokane, Wash., asked about the cost of the effort and whether the $220 million budget adopted during the assembly could afford such an expense. He suggested placing a cap on the communications effort “so we don’t find ourselves having sticker shock afterwards.”

Bishop Michael J. Bransfield of Wheeling-Charleston W.Va., chairman of the Committee on Budget and Finance, told the assembly that the cost “can be managed.”

The plan calls for a reorganization of the Communications Department, which includes a media relations office, customer and client relations, creative services, which is responsible for online and video messages, and Catholic News Service.

Under the reorganization, the public affairs director would work with the bishops’ secretary of communications and general secretary in developing the conference’s strategic communications “to support the president, conference officers, general secretary and leadership staff of the USCCB,” the supporting document said.

Helen Osman currently is the secretary of communications, and Msgr. Ronny Jenkins serves as general secretary.

The hiring of a director of public affairs was proposed during a meeting of the bishops’ Administrative Committee in November 2011. The project was taken on by the Executive Committee, which includes Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., Bishop George V. Murry of Youngstown, Ohio, Bishop Bransfield, and Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles. That committee brought the proposal, based on earlier work of a task force, to the full body of bishops.

By TheDialog

WASHINGTON — In observance of World Refugee Day June 20, Catholic leaders noted that not much has changed in the plight of more than 15 million refugees in the world today.

Bishop Anthony B. Taylor of Little Rock, Ark., spoke of the need for the global community to “welcome the stranger” and to aid the millions of refugees who are forced to escape violence and other kinds of persecution in their homeland.

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By Dennis Sadowski

Catholic News Service

ATLANTA — Young adults raised by their biological parents in a stable marriage fared better emotionally, socially and relationally, according to a University of Texas at Austin study.

The New Family Structures Study by Mark Regnerus of the university’s Population Research Center measured outcomes in 40 areas including social and economic well-being, psychological and physical health, sexual identity, sexual behavior and criminal behavior.

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