Archbishop of Baltimore William E. Lori, S.T.D., S’77, is among several Mount St. Mary’s Seminary alumni recently elected to serve in leadership positions of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
Archbishop Lori was elected to a three-year term as USCCB vice president. He serves as chancellor of Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, leads the Seminary Board, and is a member of the Mount St. Mary’s University Board of Trustees. In a message to the Mount community on November 18, Mount St. Mary’s University President Timothy E. Trainor, Ph.D., warmly congratulated the archbishop and the other elected leaders with connections to Mount St. Mary’s Seminary.
“Mount St. Mary’s Seminary congratulates those bishops who have been newly elected to various offices and committee chairs of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, especially those who are alumni of our Seminary, partner bishops, or members of our governing Board,” said Rev. Msgr. Andrew R. Baker, S.T.D., rector of Mount St. Mary’s Seminary. “Generosity and zeal are virtues we instill in the seminarians during their years of formation at the Mount. They are inspired by these bishops to continue to strive for these virtues and to become happy, holy, and zealous priests.”
Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, was elected USCCB president. Mount St. Mary’s Seminary has the largest number of seminarians who are co-sponsored by the Archdiocese for the Military Services and are thus training to be military chaplains. Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, S’83, of Oklahoma City was elected USCCB secretary, replacing Broglio who stepped down as secretary upon being elected president. In addition, Bishop Barry C. Knestout, S’89, of Richmond, Virginia, will serve as chairman-elect of the Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People.
Upon his election as USCCB vice president, Lori stepped down as chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities. He is being replaced in that important position by Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, who also is a member of the Seminary Board. Another Seminary Board member, Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, was elected as chair-elect of the Committee for Religious Liberty.
As chairmen-elect, Bishops Knestout and Rhoades will serve a year as chairmen before beginning a three-year term at the end of the USCCB’s 2023 Fall Plenary Assembly.