Bishops choose chairmen, board members

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BALTIMORE -- The U.S. bishops chose new chairmen-elect for five committees, as well as their representatives to two boards, in balloting Nov. 16 and 17 in Baltimore.

The chairmen-elect will serve for a year alongside the current chairmen before taking full direction of the committees.

In electronic voting Nov. 17, members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops elected:

• Archbishop Robert J. Carlson of St. Louis as chairman-elect of the Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations, over Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Raleigh, N.C., 118-114.
• Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond of New Orleans, chairman-elect of the Committee on Divine Worship, defeating Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron of Detroit by a 126-110 vote.
• Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton, Calif., chairman-elect of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, over Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice, Fla., 120-117.
• Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades, recently named to head the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind., as chairman-elect of the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth, defeating Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kan., 145-93.
• Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of San Antonio, chairman-elect of the Committee on Migration, over Bishop James A. Tamayo of Laredo, Texas, 132-105.

In paper balloting Nov. 16, the bishops also elected four representatives to the board of Catholic Relief Services and two representatives to the board of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, known as CLINIC.

Chosen as CRS board members were Bishop J. Kevin Boland of Savannah, Ga.; Auxiliary Bishop Denis J. Madden of Baltimore; Bishop Richard J. Malone of Portland, Maine; and Auxiliary Bishop Joseph R. Cistone of Philadelphia.

Elected to the CLINIC board were Bishop Richard J. Garcia of Monterey, Calif., and Auxiliary Bishop Eusebio Elizondo of Seattle.

To test the electronic voting system, the bishops were asked to vote on whether their favorite baseball team was in the World Series this year. Only 60 bishops said yes and 152 said no.