Mahony Named to Synod Delegation

Pope John Paul II has added two leading U.S. Catholic bishops to the already-elected four-member delegation that will attend October’s Synod on the Laity in Rome, Archbishop Pio Laghi has announced.

The Pope named Archbishop Roger Mahony of Los Angeles and Bishop Anthony Bevilacqua of Pittsburgh as his choices for addition to the U.S. delegation elected by colleagues in November, said Laghi, the Vatican’s ambassador to the United States.

The four elected delegates are Archbishop John May of St. Louis, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago, Archbishop Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee and Bishop Stanley Ott of Baton Rouge, La.

The synod, this time focused on the theme of “the vocation and mission of the laity in the church,” brings together a worldwide group of bishops every three years.

In March, the U.S. delegation selected two prominent lay people -- Delores Leckey, director of the bishops conference’s office on the laity, and Lucien Roy, director of the office for ministry formation in the Chicago archdiocese.

A group of conservative Catholics generally unhappy with the liberal positions of American bishops on various social issues have urged the replacement of Leckey and Roy. The group, the National Catholic Coalition, said it wanted them replaced because both are employed by the church and therefore are less likely to speak independently.