Bishops' conference president sees 'new frontier' for U.S. church

Published: 2005-12-12

LEUVEN, Belgium (CNS) -- The Catholic Church in the United States is facing a new frontier that will demand collaboration, prayer and sacrifice, Bishop William S. Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., said Dec. 5 in a lecture at the American College, the U.S. national seminary at the Catholic University of Louvain. Bishop Skylstad, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, cited the story of the rich young man in the Gospel who obeys the commandments but balks when Jesus tells him he must do one more thing -- give what he has to the poor and become Jesus' disciple. "There are very few moments when the church is not facing a new frontier," asked to respond anew when Christ wants "one more thing," he said. In terms of material resources, he noted the generosity of U.S. Catholics responding for decades to the needs of the church in Latin America, then more recently to the revived church in Central and Eastern Europe and then to the growing needs in Africa as well. "At home we heard the Lord say, 'One more thing is needed,' in the wake of Hurricane Katrina," he said. "Within the church itself, the crisis of sexual abuse has been an experience painful beyond description for all of us. ... No description of a new frontier for the church can ignore the continuing effect of this crisis," he said.

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