Hispanic immigrant in line to lead U.S. bishops

‘Practical-minded conservative’ would make history if elected.

Sex abuse among clergy is once again on the agenda as U.S. Catholic bishops meet this week — but so is a potentially historic milestone: Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez, an immigrant from Mexico, is widely expected to win election as the first Hispanic president of the bishops’ national conference.

Who is Jose Gomez?

Gomez, 67, is the conference’s vice president — a post that by tradition serves as a springboard to the presidency. In terms of doctrine, Gomez is considered a practical-minded conservative, but he is an outspoken advocate of a welcoming immigration policy that would include a path to citizenship for many immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.

In August, after a gunman targeting Mexicans killed 22 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, Gomez wrote a powerful blog post condemning white supremacy and noting that Spanish was spoken in North America before English was.

“Men and women do not become less than human, less a child of God, because they are ‘undocumented,’ ” Gomez wrote. “Yet, in our nation, it has become common to hear migrants talked about and treated as if they are somehow beneath caring about. “

The three-day meeting, opening today, will mark the end of the three-year presidential term of Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, the archbishop of Galveston-Houston.

At the two most recent national assemblies that DiNardo presided over, the church’s persisting clergy sex-abuse crisis — and the often tentative response to it — dominated the proceedings. At this week’s assembly, the topic may surface only occasionally — for example in a scheduled update on establishing a nationwide, third-party reporting system for abuse or misconduct by bishops.

What’s expected

Also on the agenda are proposed changes in the process of “priestly formation” — the preparation of seminarians to become ordained priests. In recent years, amid the sex-abuse crisis, focus has increased on psychological evaluations of seminary applicants and students to reduce the likelihood of ordaining priests who would be prone to sexual misconduct.

The bishops are expected to authorize development of a “comprehensive vision” for Hispanic/ Latino ministry. While Hispanics account for about 37% of all U.S. Catholics, they are no longer a majority-Catholic group, according to the Pew Research Center; a recent Pew survey said 47% of Hispanics in the U.S. now call themselves Catholic, down from 57% in 2009.

In addition to electing a new president the bishops will be choosing a vice president.

About the VP nominees

Some of the nominees are popular among militantly conservative Catholics — San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone and Bishop Thomas Paprocki, of Springfield, Illinois. Others, such as Archbishops Paul Coakley, of Oklahoma City, and Jerome Listecki, of Milwaukee, also are conservatives but less eager to engage in the so-called culture wars.

ASSOCIATED PRESS 2018 Archbishop Jose Gomez, of Los Angeles, (left) is a proponent of immigration policy that would diminish “migrants being talked about ... as if they are somehow beneath caring about.”