WASHINGTON—The
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will gather for their annual Spring
General Assembly, June 14-15, in Indianapolis. During the assembly, the full
body of bishops will address issues of immigration and refugees, religious
freedom at home and abroad as well as health care policy developments. The
bishops will also begin consultation on the upcoming Ordinary Synod of Bishops
being convened by the Holy Father in 2018.

Bishop
Oscar Cantú of Las Cruces, New Mexico, chairman of the Committee on
International Justice and Peace, will lead a presentation on religious
persecution, genocide and human rights violations in the Middle East. The bishops will receive a briefing from
their working group on immigration and hear from outside experts.

Archbishop
Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap., of Philadelphia, chairman of the Committee on
Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth, and Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R of
Newark, chairman of the Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations,
will lead the discussion on the 2018 Ordinary Synod of Bishops, which will
focus on young people, faith and vocational discernment.

The
bishops will also discuss and vote on whether to establish the Ad Hoc Committee
for Religious Liberty as a permanent USCCB committee. Other items considered for discussion and
votes are: the revised Guidelines for the Celebration of the Sacraments with
Persons with Disabilities, a collection of blessings in Spanish (the Bendicional:
Sexta Parte), and a new translation of the Order of Blessing the Oil of
Catechumens and of the Sick and of Consecrating the Chrism.

The Wednesday
evening Mass will be moment of prayer and penance for the bishops as they
respond to the call from Pope Francis for an international Day of Prayer to
pray for the survivors of clerical sex abuse.

Coverage
of the meeting is open to credentialed media. Sessions open to the media will
be Wednesday, June 14, and the morning of Thursday, June 15. Media conferences
will follow open sessions of the meeting as time allows. Reporters seeking to
cover the meeting can download a credential application form at: www.usccb.org/about/public-affairs/upload/application-news-media-credentials.pdf
and submit it by June 9 to media-relations@usccb.org
or mail to:

June Meeting
Credentials
Office of Public Affairs
3211 4th St. NE
Washington, DC 20017-1194
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Keywords:
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, June meeting, Spring General Assembly,
USCCB, president, Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, Bishop Oscar Cantú, Archbishop
Charles J. Chaput, Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, Synod of Bishops, marriage,
family, youth, young adults, Pope Francis, Ad Hoc Committee for Religious
Liberty, immigration, refugees, sacraments, persons with disabilities,
Bendicional, Chrism

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MEDIA CONTACT:
Norma Montenegro Flynn
202-541-3200

Source:: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops