Free Republic

Bishops to Amnesty International: We work with orgs who "do not oppose the fundamental right to life" By John-Henry Westen WASHINGTON, D.C., August 27, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has decried Amnesty International's recent decision to - as the bishops put it - "promote worldwide access to abortion," telling the organization that the Bishops' Conference will work with other organizations rather than with Amnesty International (AI) to carry out the good ends which AI was traditionally associated with. Bishop William S. Skylstad, the President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops released a statement to...

SPOKANE, Wash. - Spokane Roman Catholic Bishop William Skylstad says today's church parishioners must atone for the actions of pedophile priests decades ago. In a letter in response to calls for his resignation over a proposed $48 million dollar settlement with victims of past clergy abuse, Skylstad says parishioners may not like it, "but that is the way it is." The 82 parishes in the Eastern Washington diocese are on the hook for contributing $10 million dollars toward the settlement by the end of this year. The settlement could be approved later this month in U-S Bankruptcy Court in Spokane....

October 31, 2006 CDW On Purification Of Vessels (Jimmy Akin) The following is the text of the letter sent by Francis Cardinal Arinze to Bishop William Skylstad, president of the USCCB, concerning the liturgical change in America such that extraordinary ministers will no longer be permitted to purify the vessels used at Mass. CONGREGATIO CULTO DIVINO ET DISCIPLINA SACRAMENTORUM Prot. n. 468/05/L Rome, 12 October 2006 Your Excellency, I refer to your letters of 9 March 2005 and 7 March 2006, in which, in the name of the Conference of Bishops of which you are President, you requested a renewal...

SPOKANE, Wash. — A woman has filed a claim that she was sexually abused more than 40 years ago by Bishop William Skylstad, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic bishops and leader of the Spokane Diocese. Skylstad issued a statement Wednesday categorically denying the accusation, saying he has not violated the vow of celibacy he took 47 years ago. The claim was filed against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane on Dec. 27 by a woman who said she was under the age of 18 when Skylstad sexually abused her at St. Patrick's Parish and at Gonzaga University from...

U.S. Catholics at Odds Over Interpretation of Vatican's New Directive The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said yesterday that under a new Vatican directive on homosexuality, men with a lasting attraction to members of the same sex can still be ordained as priests, as long as they are not "consumed by" their sexual orientation. Bishop William S. Skylstad's flexible interpretation of the document, which was officially issued in Rome yesterday, was sharply at odds with the position of some other U.S. bishops. They said the Vatican intended to bar all men who have had more than a...

The Vatican's tougher stand on homosexuality has divided American Catholics, with some welcoming it as a renewal of a Church plagued by scandal and others warning it would further alienate Catholic leaders. Reflecting the divisions foreseen by some churchmen and scholars, a Catholic priest in Arizona announced his resignation because of "aggressive anti-gay positions" at the Vatican and the U.S. Church. "I could no longer stay in that institution with any amount of integrity," Rev. Leonard Walker, 58, told the Arizona Republic after resigning from the Queen of Peace Church. Apparently trying to defuse controversy over the eight-page Vatican document...

Head of U.S. bishops interprets Vatican's edict on priesthood. Roman Catholic priests and seminary students with "homosexual inclinations" can be good priests and should not fear discussing the issue with their superiors, Bishop William S. Skylstad, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a statement scheduled for release this morning. As head of church leadership in the United States, Skylstad sets the tone for how Vatican edicts are carried out in this country. Skylstad made the statements in a news release timed to today's planned release in the Vatican of a document called an "instruction" that clarifies...

USCCB Head Writes President Bush On Supreme Court Vacancy WASHINGTON (July 6, 2005)—Spokane Bishop William S. Skylstad, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), has written to President Bush about “the qualities that I hope you would contemplate” as Mr. Bush considers the appointment of a successor to Justice Sandra Day O’Connor who announced her retirement from the Supreme Court on July 1. In his letter, dated July 1, Bishop Skylstad wrote that “the legacy of a Supreme Court Justice is long and the influence of the Court on the life of the country and the...

The script is being written Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, president of the USCCB, has now officially granted the "out" to all those pro-abortion Catholic Senators on the nomination of a Supreme Court Justice. In a letter to President Bush on the qualities he should be looking for in a nominee, Skylstad listed the death penalty alongside pro-life, rights of minorities and immigrants, the First Amendment, and parental choice in education. Now when one of the CINO Senators wants to oppose a pro-life, pro-death penalty nominee, he'll be able to cite his Catholic faith, and the backing of the...

Bishop Skylstad was elected with 52% to be chair of the USCCB. Cardinal George finished second.

Roman Catholic Faithful, Inc. March 31, 2003 Most Rev. William Skylstad Vice President, U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Catholic Pastoral Center W. 1023 Riverside Ave., PO Box 1453 Spokane, WA 99210-1453 Your Excellency: I am writing to you on behalf of Roman Catholic Faithful, Inc., a lay organization dedicated to fighting heterodoxy and corruption in the hierarchy. We demand that you resign your position as Vice President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, a position which normally leads to the presidency of that organization. Our reasons are as follows: 1. When you were bishop of Yakima, you...