WASHINGTON - Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), has called for prayers for the lives and safety of all those impacted by the recent hurricanes.

Archbishop Gomez stated:

WASHINGTON - Earlier this year, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees announced that the total number of forcibly displaced persons in the world has reached 100 million for the first time in history, a number exacerbated by food insecurity, climate change, and ongoing conflicts. On September 27, President Biden signed a Presidential Determination (PD) of 125,000 refugee admissions to the United States for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023. The PD serves as the target for the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP). The number authorized by the President for FY 2023 is the same PD set for FY 2022, which ends on September 30. The number of refugees resettled in the United States over the past year will surpass 20,000 for the first time since 2019, even while excluding large numbers of Afghans and Ukrainians who have entered the United States through alternative pathways, such as humanitarian parole.

Bishop Mario E. Dorsonville, auxiliary bishop of Washington and chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Migration, welcomed the announcement of the new PD, stating, “This is an ambitious and worthwhile goal for our nation, which has benefitted from many blessings throughout its history, including the generations of refugees who have already enriched American communities. My brother bishops and I remain fully committed to our Church’s centuries-old tradition of welcoming newcomers in this country, especially those fleeing the devastations of war, violence, persecution, political instability, and natural disasters. As we embrace this ministry given to us by Jesus, we look to the President and Congress for their continued support of a robust resettlement program, consistent with our national values. Let us truly strive toward this goal of resettling 125,000 refugees.”

WASHINGTON - Delegations representing the Catholic Church and the Pentecostal Charismatic Movement met September 14-16, 2022, for ecumenical dialogue. The meeting, hosted by Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was attended by representatives of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the Pentecostal Charismatic Churches of North America (PCCNA), and was a continuation of a theological exchange that began last year between the two faith groups.

The three-day meeting carried the theme of “healing,” which had been developed by the co-chairs for the meeting, Rev. Dr. Harold Hunter of the PCCNA and Fr. Walt Kedjierski of the USCCB with the intent to engage in exploratory dialogue on issues related to ritual, liturgy, and sacraments. The dialogue included the offering of two papers, the first by Dr. Andrew Prevot of the Department of Theology at Boston College on “Varieties of Healing: A Catholic Perspective,” and Rev. Dr. David Han, dean, Pentecostal School of Theology on “Healing in the Pentecostal Tradition.” Both papers explored aspects of Catholic and Pentecostal healing rituals and the call to healing in the lives of individuals and wider communities.