Agenda announced for U.S. bishops’ Fall general assembly

Washington D.C., Oct 2, 2009 / 01:29 am

The Fall General Assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will take place November 16-19 in Baltimore. The assembly agenda includes votes on sections of the New Roman Missal, a pastoral letter on marriage, and reports on vocations and clerical sexual abuse of minors.

A document on reproductive technologies and a revision of a Catholic health care ethical directive will also be discussed.

Meeting at the Baltimore Marriot Waterfront Hotel, the assembly will begin with Mass on Monday morning followed by regional meetings. The public plenary session will not open until early Monday afternoon, the USCCB says in a press release.

The bishops will be addressed by USCCB president Cardinal Francis George. They will also elect the chairs of the USCCB Committees on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations; Divine Worship; Domestic Justice and Human Development; Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth; and Migration.

The assembly will hear a preliminary report on the Causes and Context Study on clerical sexual abuse. They will also hear the National Religious Vocation Conference’s report on its recent study of religious vocations.

On the matter of Catholic ethical and religious directives (ERDs) the assembly will consider revision to ERD 58, which concerns the presumption in favor of providing patients with hydration and nutrition even when medical assistance is necessary to do so.

The pastoral letter on marriage is titled “Marriage: Life and Love in the Divine Plan,” while the document on reproductive technologies is titled “Life-giving Love in an Age of Technology.”

According to the USCCB, the agenda is not finalized and could change.