US bishops break precedent, elect Archbishop Dolan as conference president

November 16, 2010

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has elected New York's Archbishop Timothy Dolan as president, in a vote that marks a major break from tradition.

In every previous election, the US hierarchy had elected the sitting vice-president of the USCCB to succeed the outgoing president. But Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, Arizona, who had been vice-president, encountered controversy because of his involvement in the case of a Chicago priest who has been convicted on multiple counts of molesting boys.

While the rector at Chicago's Mundelein seminary, the future Bishop Kicanas approved the ordination of Daniel McCormack, despite clear evidence that McCormack had been in involved in homosexual activities. Bishop Kicanas has defended his handling of the case, saying that there was no evidence the seminarian had engaged in abusive behavior.

The election of Bishop Kicanas as USSB president appeared a near-certainty until the week before the bishops' meeting, when Catholic journalists led by Tim Drake of the National Catholic Register began questioning whether the election of a leader tainted by his mishandling of a notorious abuser would severely damage the credibility of the bishops' conference. That question was clearly on the minds of many bishops as the voting began on Tuesday, November 16.

A first round of voting was inconclusive, with Bishop Kicanas winning a plurality of the votes but falling well short of the majority needed for election. In a second round Archbishop Dolan-- who had run a strong second on the first ballot-- took the lead, but again fell short of a majority. A third vote was decisive.

The USCCB membership chose Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky as the vice-president of the conference. Under the rules of the USCCB, Bishop Kicanas could not succeed himself in that post.

Archbishop Dolan told the Catholic News Service that he was "flattered and a tad intimidated" by his selection as president. He declined to speculate on the reason for the precedent-setting vote, but suggested that some bishops may have "bristled" at the suggestion that the result of the presidential election was pre-ordained.

 

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Further information:

• Incoming president of USCCB among those surprised by his election (CNS)
• Journalist warns against election of Bishop Kicanas as USCCB president (CWN, 11/11)
• Bishop Kicanas defends his handling of McCormack case (CWN, 11/12)