No real surprises in the voting for the various committee chairmen, with one exception. Bishop Oscar Cantu of Las Cruces defeated Bishop David Malloy 126-110, to lead the Committee on International Justice and Peace. +Malloy was formerly the General Secretary of the USCCB and, consequently, was well known to all the bishops. Usually, such familiarity serves as a path to victory. This time, not so much.
Archbishop Bernie Hebda also got a vote of confidence from his brother bishops, being elected to chair the Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance by the largest margin of all the elections, 167-70, over Bishop Joseph Perry, auxiliary of Chicago. Archbishop Hebda was recently installed as the Coadjutor Archbishop of Newark, sent to assist the scandal-plagued Archbishop John Myers.
In other contests, the winners are:
Archbishop George Lucas of Omaha, Chair of the Committee on Catholic Education.
Bishop Mitchell Thomas Rozanski, auxiliary of Baltimore, Chair of the Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs.
Archbishop-designate Leonard Blair of Hartford, Chair of the Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis.
Bishop Edward Burns of Juneau, Alaska, Chair of the Committee on Child and Youth Protection.