Bishops in Baltimore: AmP coverage

The American bishops are meeting in Baltimore this week, and most of the attention is going to be focused on three documents they are discussing: one on natural family planning, another on the reception of communion, and the third on ministry to homosexuals.

Amy Welborn has some comments on the addresses of Skylstad (president of the USCCB) and Sambi (the apostolic nuncio) here. She also lets us know that the public sessions are being aired on EWTN here (schedule here).

Rocco has posted his comments on the opening Mass, which was held in the newly-restored Baltimore basilica.

Some mainstream news sources, not surprisingly, already know what the bishops will decide this week, but are still showing some restraint in how they present the situation to their readers:

While continuing to stress that same-sex relationships are immoral, America's Roman Catholic bishops may approve new guidelines this week that absolve gay Catholics of any obligation to try to alter their sexual orientation.

The guidelines for ministering to homosexuals, to be reviewed when bishops convene Monday in Baltimore for their annual fall meeting, also will urge clergy to baptize the adopted children of gay couples who agree to raise them Catholic.

... The bishops also plan to remind parishioners how to prepare themselves for Communion, laying a foundation that would make it easier for clergy to deny the sacrament to Catholics at odds with the church, including politicians. - Chicago Tribune

And really, the Tribune has such inspired coverage that I can't resist quoting more of it:

Missing from the meeting's agenda is any mention of the war in Iraq, an absence that irks parishioners who believe the bishops should focus on that issue rather than homosexuality.

"We hate to see our moral teachers squandering their moral teaching authority when there are important issues they should be dealing with--poverty and social justice and the war," said Sam Sinnett, president of Dignity USA, the nation's largest gay Catholic organization."

They're much more concerned with whether two homosexuals are going to get married or not," he said. "They've lost focus on the needs of the human race."

The rest is about par for the course. Many more quotes from Sinnet, for instance.

Update: CWNews has a bit more information here.

Update 2: Amy has an extended post overviewing this morning's discussions. Some highlights:

Iraq: "... retired Archbishop Hannan stood up and spoke about the threat of terrorism, with no specific suggestion, but more of a reflection on how the military personnel he knew in Iraq said an immediate withdrawal (more or less the theme of the document) would be disastrous."

[Homosexuals & receiving communion]: "...Bishop Curtiss of Omaha was insistent that a media storm was going to break out when it was released and that the bishops really needed help from the committee to deal with it. Could they be sent "sound bits" to help explain it?

Bishop Serratelli responded that the document was actually pretty thorough in presenting its own justifications." [More on this discussion ...]

Many more interesting details than I can copy out here. Go read her post if you are interested.

The press conference sounds to me like a catalogue of missed opportunities. I wish bishops with a little quick thinking and conviction would be willing to expose leading/uninformed/biased questions when they are asked.

Update 3: Whispers has a second post up, but unfortunately he mostly talks about himself and his blog so it's light on the actual coverage. Amy, in the meantime, links to this page where the bishops' statements/addresses & press releases will be made available.

I wish my school allowed streaming video else I'd be able to watch the EWTN internet feed during the day. Tuesday morning, 9-12am EST and then Tuesday afternoon, 2-5pm EST are the next broadcast times. You can read the schedule here.