Reyes is a married layman and the father of seven children.
Posted on 09/19/2012 6:14:55 AM PDT by marshmallow
If you aren’t excited about this news story, you probably don’t understand it. This is big. This is huge. This is exciting!
Have you been frustrated, over the years, with the political statements issued by the US bishops’ conference? If so, prepare for a welcome change. Have you wondered why the bishops never seem to listen to reasonable arguments by conservative Catholics? That’s about to change, too.
When John Carr retired from the staff of the US bishops’ conference, after helping to shape the bishops’ statements on political issues for more then 25 years, we wondered whether his departure signaled a shift in USCCB policy. Today we have our answer: Yes, it does.
Jonathan J. Reyes, who will be taking Carr’s post in December, will be coming to Washington from Denver, where he was head of Catholic Charities. His work there, and especially his involvement in projects like “Christ in the City,” testify to his belief that Christian charitable work is inseparable from evangelization. In other words he sees charitable work as a witness to faith, not a call for government support.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicculture.org ...
Great news. Hopefully he doesn’t get drawn into the cocktail circuit.
December? He’s not taking over until December? We need him NOW.
Wonderful news! I hope that those hideous "prayers of the faithful" that evidently come out from USCCB central will stop having us praying for things like "an equitable distribution of income" and "universal access to healthcare for all" now.
We do need him now, immediately. However, after 25 years of lefties, December will do. Change happens slowly but it is inexorable.
This all comes from Pope Benedict XVI’s touch, I believe. The Winds of Change. Ahhhhhhh.. Springtime.
Answer to a prayer.
God Bless and keep Bishop Reyes, may he serve for 25 years and more.
He sounds like an improvement. However, I personnally think the Church at all levels produces too much unnecessary paper. I don’t think they need to be issuing documents all the time. We have the teachings of the Church, the Catechism, the Bible and so forth. When there are specific issues of applying the teachings to new situations, or specific errors or heresies to condemn, then that’s fine, but I don’t think we need to have the number of documents that we have issuing in a steady stream from either the Holy See or the Bishops’ conferences. Just IMHO.
Agree, totally.
The resumés of these two men provide a vivid contrast. Whereas John Carr was hired by the Carter administration, and worked for the White House Conference on Families. Reyes was hired by Archbishop Chaput, and worked for the Fellowship of Catholic University Students. Carr sat on the board of the leftist Center for Community Change; Reyes is co-founder of the Augustine Institute. Carr will be taking a post at Harvard’s Kennedy School; Reyes is a former vice-president of Christendom College.
Carr’s background, interests, instincts, and alliances tied him closely to liberal Democrats. Reyes, on the other hand, moves easily in conservative circles. This does not mean that Reyes will be a political partisan, or that the USCCB will suddenly begin endorsing Republican legislative proposals. But it does mean that for the first time in decades, the staff of the US bishops’ conference will not swing reflexively into line with the latest liberal rhetoric. Gaudeamus igitur, and chill the champagne!
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