The Catholic Bishops of the United States have started to arrive to a windy and cold Baltimore in anticipation of their annual fall meeting which starts Monday.
As per the website of the Bishop’s Conference, the assembly will begin with an address by Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, archbishop of Galveston-Houston and President of the USCCB and also an address by the Papal Nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Christophe Pierre. The body of bishops will then adjourn to an on-site chapel for a full day of spiritual discernment and prayer. This will be followed by a Mass celebrated Monday evening at the site of the assembly.
This day of prayer is unique to this year’s meeting. Before addressing the issues at hand, it is good they have chosen to begin the assembly this way. The Bishops will gather again in January at the request of Pope Francis for an eight day retreat at Mundelein Seminary.
The bishops will discuss and vote on a series of concrete measures to respond to the abuse crisis, including those approved for the agenda at the September meeting of the Administrative Committee, such as a third-party reporting mechanism, standards of conduct for bishops, and protocols for bishops resigned or removed because of abuse. The bishops will also hear reports from the National Advisory Council and National Review Board.
The public sessions of the general assembly discussions and votes as well as portions of the day of spiritual discernment will be available via livestream at: http://www.usccb.org/live
Live stream and satellite feed is expected to run Monday, 12, 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Eastern, Tuesday, November 13, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Eastern and Wednesday, November 14, 11a.m.-6p.m. The assembly will be live streamed on the Internet at: http://www.usccb.org/about/leadership/usccb-general-assembly/usccb-general-assembly-live-stream.cfm.
Pictures are mine, all rights reserved. 2018.
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