Bishop Lori to Brief Bishops on Religious Liberty Issues; Names Members, Consultants of Ad Hoc Committee

WASHINGTON—Bishop William E. Lori, chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty will update the bishops on committee efforts at the November 14-16 meeting of the U.S. bishops.

Archbishop Timothy Dolan, president of the USCCB, named Bishop Lori chair of the newly established subcommittee at the USCCB Administrative Committee in September. The bishops also approved hiring of additional staff in the offices of general counsel and government relations to address the issue.

When announcing the Committee, Archbishop Dolan noted an upswing in government actions that appear to violate the religious freedom guaranteed Americans under the U.S. Constitution.

Bishop Lori has since underscored the importance of these matters in October 26 testimony before the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Judiciary Committee of the United States House of Representatives.

New members of the ad hoc committee include Bishop John O. Barres of Allentown, Pennsylvania; Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap. of Philadelphia; Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, Texas; Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory of Atlanta; Archbishop John C. Nienstedt ofSt. Paul-Minneapolis; Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix; Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of Springfield in Illinois, Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi of Mobile, Alabama; Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle and Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington.

Consultants include Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight, Knights of Columbus; Kevin Baine, attorney, Williams "& Connolly; Father Raymond J. de Souza, a priest of the Archdiocese of Kingston, Ontario (Canada) and a columnist; Richard Garnett, associate dean and professor of law and political science, University of Notre Dame Law School; John Garvey, President, The Catholic University of America; Mary Ann Glendon, professor, Harvard Law School; Philip Lacovara, attorney; Judge Michael McConnell, professor, Stanford University Law School; L. Martin Nussbaum, attorney, Rothgerber Johnson "& Lyons; and Mary Ellen Russell, executive director, Maryland Catholic Conference.

Coverage of the bishops’ meeting is open to credentialed media. Sessions open to media will be Monday, November 14, and Tuesday, November 15. Media conferences will follow open sessions of the meeting.

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Keywords: bishops, Catholic, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, USCCB, religious liberty, Bishop William Lori, Archbishop Timothy Dolan, Bishop John O. Barres, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap., Bishop Daniel E. Flores, Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory, Archbishop John C. Nienstedt, Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix; Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of Springfield in Illinois, Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi of Mobile, Alabama; Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle and Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Carl Anderson, Knights of Columbus; Kevin Baine, FatherRaymond J. de Souza; Richard Garnett, John Garvey, Ph.D., Mary Ann Glendon, Ph.D., Harvard Law School; Philip Lacovara, Michael McConnell, L. Martin Nussbaum, Rothgerber Johnson "& Lyons, Mary Ellen Russell

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