Archbishop Dolan and Archbishop Kurtz elected to lead USCCB

Archbisop Timothy M. Dolan of New York and Archbishop
Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky

from the Pilot...


In a series of close votes, the U.S. bishops elected Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York to head the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for the next three years and chose Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, as vice president.

By selecting Archbishop Dolan from a field of 10 candidates that included Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of Tucson, AZ, USCCB vice president, the bishops diverged from the usual practice of electing the USCCB vice president as president. 

Because a USCCB vice president cannot serve for two consecutive terms under conference rules, Bishop Kicanas was not eligible to run for vice president.

Archbishop Dolan will succeed Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago as USCCB president at the close of the bishops' fall general assembly Nov. 15-18 in Baltimore

The change in the USCCB leadership took just a matter of minutes, thanks to electronic voting. In the first ballot for the presidential election, Bishop Kicanas had a clear lead over Archbishop Dolan, 104 to 84. On the second ballot, Archbishop Dolan pulled ahead of Bishop Kicanas, 118-111. Even so, neither prelate had acquired the majority needed for election.

In a runoff after the other eight candidates for the presidency had been eliminated, Archbishop Dolan won 128 to 111.

For the vice presidency, Archbishop Kurtz, the current USCCB treasurer, had a slim lead but not a majority on the first ballot. On the second ballot, he widened his lead -- but again, not by enough to claim a majority. On the third ballot against Denver Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, Archbishop Kurtz won with 141 votes to 97.

Bishop Michael J. Bransfield of Wheeling-Charleston, WV, was elected treasurer. While he was not supposed to start until next year, he'll start right away instead with the election of Archbishop Kurtz to the vice presidency.

The election of Archbishop Dolan marks the first time since the bishops' conference was reorganized in 1966 following the Second Vatican Council reforms that a sitting vice president who sought the presidency did not win the election. In two elections, circumstances dictated that the vice president did not rise to lead the conference.

In 1974, Coadjutor Archbishop Leo C. Byrne of St. Paul and Minneapolis, vice president since 1971, died less than a month before his term ended.

Three years later, Cardinal John J. Carberry of St. Louis as vice president declined to run for the top spot because he was 73 years old and was due to retire before he could complete a three-year term as president.

This year's voting nearly had to be conducted the old-fashioned way -- by a paper ballot. A glitch in the electronic voting system had kept the results from a test vote from appearing on an overhead projector screen in the front of the meeting room.