Niwa Limbu, Catholic Herald
Tuesday, October 21, 2025
Only 52 per cent of priests in America presently trust their own bishop, a figure that has declined from 63 per cent in 2001, and a mere 27 per cent say they trust the US bishops’ conference as a whole. It is a crisis of confidence that recalls the nadir of the US clerical abuse scandal which so profoundly scarred the Church in the early 2000s. Thus, the selection of the next leader of the USCCB, who will serve a three-year term beginning at the conclusion of the Plenary Assembly, carries significance well beyond procedural formalities. Bishop Barron’s merits are by no means limited to his formidable intellectual pedigree, though they begin there. The episcopal conference does not need a partisan mascot – it needs an efficient statesman. It needs someone who can communicate the Gospel without compromise.
