U.S. bishops meet in Florida

BISHOP EDWARD B. SCHARFENBERGER sits among clergy at a Mass during the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' annual spring assembly in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The U.S. bishops, meeting June 13-14 in Florida for their spring general assembly, approved new medical directives governing healthcare partnerships and revisions to their "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People." They also approved a "pastoral response" to Asian and Pacific Island Catholics and decided to supplement their quadrennial document on Catholic participation in public life.

Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger, who was in attendance at the meeting, noted that "the theme that resonated throughout the conference was the desire and work that needs to be done to protect the most vulnerable lives among us.

"We heard powerful testimony from those who experience various forms of neglect and alienation for a number of reasons that might be connected to historical stereotyping (e.g., racism and sexism), status, age or health (physical and mental) condition," he added. "The call and mission of the Church is to be a sign of hope in a broken world and the protector of the poor resounded throughout the session."

The country's bishops began their assembly by decrying U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions' decision that asylum-seekers fleeing domestic or gang violence cannot find protection in the United States. Deacon Walter Ayres, director of Catholic Charities' Commission on Peace and Justice of the Albany Diocese, said: “Throughout the Bible, we are called to welcome the stranger. And in the last judgment scene from the Gospel of Mark, Jesus articulates one of the reasons why sinners are sent to eternal punishment: ‘For I was...a stranger and you gave me no welcome.’ Therefore, we urge Catholics and all Americans to contact their elected officials and express their opposition to these draconian decisions.”

(CNS; CNS photo/Bob Roller)