Chicago and LA Bishops Unite Against ‘Polarization’

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WASHINGTON, D.C. (ChurchMilitant.com) - Two American prelates are heading a conference on overcoming the polarization within the Church.

Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago and Abp. José Gómez of Los Angeles will both speak at a conference at Georgetown University in June. The event is entitled "Through Many, One: Overcoming Polarization Through Catholic Social Thought."

Scheduled for June 4–6, the event is meant to address the widespread divisions within the Church today. Cardinal Cupich is supposed to represent the "liberal" camp, while Abp. Gomez is deemed a more "conservative" leader.

The summit is hosted by Georgetown University's Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life. The initiative's director, John Carr, gave an interview with Crux. He said, "We felt there was an urgent need to bring some Catholic leaders together to build bridges across political, ideological, ethnic and ecclesial lines for civil and substantive dialogue."

Carr continued, "More specifically, we want to explore how principles of Catholic social teaching can offer affirmative ways to pursue the common good and build unity in our Church. We can't get distracted from the good that we can do together at a time when our nation needs our principles and common witness."

He also told Crux that the conference in June "is a way to respond to Pope Francis's challenge in his new apostolic exhortation, Gaudete et Exsultate, to answer the 'call to holiness in a practical way for our own time, with all its risks, challenges and opportunities.'"

Also involved in organizing the conference is Kim Daniels from the Vatican Secretariat for Communications. Also an employee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Daniels told Crux, "Our hope is that focusing outward instead of inward — as Pope Francis has called us to do, along with Pope Benedict and St. John Paul II before him — will help us move past some harmful habits and attitudes that too often undermine our work together."

She also said, "Catholics have so much to offer the broader public conversation through our social teachings."

Cardinal Cupich, who is meant to represent the "liberal" U.S. Catholics at the June summit, has been known for pushing leftist talking points. Most recently, Cdl. Cupich called pro-abortion Catholic Democrat Sen. Dick Durbin to talk about immigration policy. In a public relations event, he called Durbin on the phone in front of cameras and reporters and told him he should support the "dreamers," people who entered the United States illegally as children and who are still in the country illegally.

Cupich did this in February, just weeks after Durbin's own bishop, Bp. Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, re-affirmed that Durbin was barred from Holy Communion in the diocese owing to the Democratic senator's unwavering support for abortion.

Archbishop Gomez, who at the conference will be standing for conservative-leaning Catholics, has tolerated the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress (LA REC) in his diocese for years. The LA REC has a reputation for being a speaking platform for dissidents and leftists. For instance, the 2017 REC featured a talk promoting transgenderism, given by dissident Arthur Fitzmaurice.

In March 2017, Abp. Gomez shared a stage at an event with a pro-abortion Democrat, California A.G. Xavier Becerra.

Becerra is a strong supporter of Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry at large. When pro-lifers at the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) released undercover videos exposing the abortion industry's sales of aborted babies' body parts, Becerra produced a slew of charges against CMP and its founder David Daleiden. The CMP is still in the midst of a long legal battle over the undercover videos. After the civil suit from the abortion industry which they are currently facing, they will then have to face the numerous criminal charges raised by Becerra.

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