Jeff Caruso, executive director of the Virginia Catholic Conference, called Burbidge “a joyful and energetic leader for life.”
“His dedication to evangelizing the dignity of every life and working for the protection and care of unborn children, their mothers, and their families resonates with clarity and conviction in the Diocese of Arlington, in Virginia, and well beyond,” he said in a statement to CNA. “I was excited to learn that he has been elected to chair the USCCB’s pro-life committee.”
In August 2021, Burbidge was the first U.S. bishop to publish a catechetical letter on the Church’s teaching related to transgenderism, calling for charity while also discouraging practices such as gender “transitioning” and using gendered pronouns disconnected from someone’s sex.
More recently, in May of this year, Burbidge issued a Communion ban against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the Arlington Diocese because of her pro-abortion stance. His action extended the ban Cordileone issued in San Francisco, her home diocese.
In October, Burbidge denounced U.S. President Joe Biden’s stated intention to codify a national right to abortion should Democrats win control of Congress, saying, “The role of Congress is to pass laws that serve the common good — and yet this priority of the president only brings about pain and death.”
Burbidge fills the chairmanship that Lori is vacating due to his new role as USCCB vice president. Burbidge will serve the remaining two years of Lori’s term.
The other chairs elected Wednesday will serve as chairmen-elect of their respective committees for one year, beginning at the conclusion of this week’s assembly. After that they will serve three-year terms as chairs.
Secretary-elect’s views on abortion, Pelosi’s ban
Coakley, the secretary-elect, has been an outspoken foe of the death penalty and has sought clemency for prisoners condemned to execution. In his role as chair of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development he has joined calls for stricter gun-control laws.
Like Burbidge, the 67-year-old Oklahoma City bishop has voiced support for Cordileone’s ban on Pelosi receiving Communion.
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“I applaud the courage of Archbishop Cordileone and his leadership in taking this difficult step,” he said. He asked for prayers for the archbishop, for Pelosi, for the protection of the unborn, and for “the conversion of hearts and minds.”
Another distinguishing feature of Coakley’s episcopate in Oklahoma City, which began in February 2011, has been his response to Pope Francis’ motu proprio Traditiones custodes restricting the Traditional Latin Mass.
Coakley initially granted temporary permission for priests currently celebrating the old Mass to continue to do so, pending further study. In August 2021 he said he understood that the pope’s document aimed to give bishops “the ability to address divisions or a lack of unity caused by the celebration of the Extraordinary Form of the liturgy in some places.”
“I have not found that sort of division to be evident in parishes of our archdiocese,” he said. He determined that Masses at specific parishes “may be retained.”
In 2014, Coakley’s archdiocese filed a lawsuit to stop Satanists from using a stolen host in a “black mass” in Oklahoma City. The event organizers returned the host after the lawsuit was filed.
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