The second day of the U.S. bishops' annual fall meeting in Baltimore saw a number elections held, among the most important being those for conference secretary and chair of the Committee on Communications.
In a close vote for conference secretary, Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans beat out Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, 52 percent to 48 percent. Aymond will take office in November 2015.
In another close vote, this one for chair of the Committee on Communications, Auxiliary Bishop Christopher Coyne of Indianapolis beat out Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kan., 53 percent to 47 percent.
Coyne blogs and posts regularly to Twitter and Facebook, and is known as a particularly media-savvy bishop. He was nominated for the communications post after Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, N.Y., who is 74, dropped out of the race because of age concerns.
Other election results included:
- Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller of San Antonio beating Bishop Joseph Tyson of Yakima, Wash., to become chairman-elect of the Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church, 73 to 27 percent.
- Archbishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit beating Bishop Robert McManus of Worcester, Mass., to become chairman-elect of the Committee on Doctrine, 69 to 31 percent.
- Archbishop Thomas Rodi of Mobile, Ala., beating Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento, Calif., to become chairman-elect of the Committee on National Collections, 65 to 35 percent.
- Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York beating Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles to become chairman-elect of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities, 55 to 46 percent.
According to the USCCB, the elected bishops will serve one year as secretary-elect or chairman-elect before beginning a three-year term.
Bishops elected to the board of directors for the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) were Bishops Martin Holley, auxiliary bishop of Washington, and Edgar da Cunha of Fall River, Mass.
Bishops elected to the board of Catholic Relief Services were Bishop Edward Burns of Juneau, Alaska; Bishop Felipe Estévez of St. Augustine, Fla.; Archbishop George Lucas of Omaha, Neb.; Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind.; and Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami.
[Vinnie Rotondaro is NCR national correspondent. His email addresss is vrotondaro@ncronline.org.]