In final presidential address, Archbishop Broglio highlights unity among bishops
Description
In his final address as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Timothy Broglio emphasized the importance of unity in helping teach the modern world that civil discourse is “the most authentically human way forward.”
Broglio opened his remarks by thanking his fellow bishops for their support over the past three years, and for the “abiding unity experienced on a daily basis from the prelates who form this conference.”
“I knew that we were united, but that fraternity has been so tangible in the more trying moments of these past three years. I am profoundly grateful,” he said.
Broglio spoke Tuesday morning to the bishops gathered in Baltimore for the conference’s fall plenary assembly. He delivered the final address of his three-year term as president of the conference.
His speech was also the first USCCB presidential address to be delivered since the election of Pope Leo XIV, who has repeatedly emphasized the importance of unity in the Church.
In his remarks, Broglio stressed that the task of the bishops is to proclaim the Gospel both in and out of season, and to affirm the dignity of the human person.
“It is not easy and it will not become easier,” he said.
“There is a comprehensible nostalgia for the Catholic ghetto in which many of us came of age, but to return there would be to deny our mission to evangelize by making the Gospel come alive.”
The archbishop noted various challenges to proclaiming the Gospel in contemporary America.
“[S]ome of our faithful listen more readily to sound bytes, the sirens of political discourse, or whatever confirms their conclusions and partisan leanings than they are to hearing their pastors and us,” he said. “The ease of sending an e-mail has diminished common courtesy and, if I may be so bold, even common sense.”
But these challenges should not lead to despair, Broglio said. Rather, he encouraged the bishops to persevere in hope, drawing strength from an encounter with Christ.
“We must also convince people to listen to each other,” he said. “May the lessons learned through the synod spread throughout society so that we might take the time to listen to the other, and if we must disagree to do so with courtesy, appropriate speech, and even attentiveness to the personal situation of the other.”
“We have to draw on our unity to illustrate that civil discourse is not only possible, but the most authentically human way forward.”
Broglio also discussed the importance of caring for those in need as a way of witnessing to the Gospel. He called for generosity toward people relying on SNAP benefits, those affected by recent natural disasters, and the Church in the Holy Land.
“Jesus identifies with the hungry, thirsty, helpless unborn, stranger, naked, homeless, and prisoner. He assures us that we meet Him in those others,” he said.
“It should surprise no one when we defend the unborn, meet the basic needs of the immigrant, lobby for immigration reform, reach out to those in need outside our borders through CRS, and call upon others to do the same.”
United States
