The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will elect the next president and vice president of USCCB during the bishops’ annual fall General Assembly, November 11-14, at the Baltimore Waterfront Marriott Hotel.
The president and vice president are elected from a slate of 10 candidates nominated by the bishops. The slate of candidates follows: Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond of New Orleans; Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap., of Philadelphia; Bishop Blase J. Cupich of Spokane, Washington; Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston; Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles; Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky; Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore; Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr of Cincinnati; Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron of Detroit;and Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski of Miami.
The president and vice president are elected to three-year terms, which will begin at the conclusion of the meeting. Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York and Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, complete their terms as president and vice president, respectively, at that time.
USCCB by-laws provide that the election of the president will take place first from among the list of 10 candidates. Following the election of the president by a simple majority vote, the vice president is elected from the remaining nine candidates. In either election, if a candidate does not receive more than half of the votes cast on the first ballot, a second vote is taken. If a third round of voting is necessary, that ballot is a run-off between the top two vote getters from the second ballot.
At the meeting, the bishops will also vote for the chairman of the USCCB Committee on Catholic Education, the chairmen-elect of five other USCCB committees and new board members of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc. (CLINIC) and Catholic Relief Services (CRS).
