WASHINGTON (CNA) — When he became a priest four decades ago,\nArchbishop Jose Gomez did not expect that he would one day lead the largest\narchdiocese in the U.S., or the country\u2019s bishops\u2019 conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI just wanted to be a priest,\u201d\nGomez told CNA with a laugh, speaking about his election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSomehow God wanted me to do what I\nam doing, and I\u2019m just counting on the grace of God to be able to be faithful\nto what God is asking me to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd also on intercession of Our\nLady of Guadalupe,\u201d he added, explaining that he has entrusted all of his\nministry as a bishop to the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gomez, 67, was elected Nov. 12 as\npresident of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The archbishop,\nborn in Monterrey, Mexico, and ordained a priest in Spain, is the first Latino\nto lead the bishops\u2019 conference. He is also the first immigrant to head the\nconference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His election is historic, but it was\nno surprise. Gomez became vice president of the conference, a central\norganizing body of almost 200 Catholic bishops with more than 300 employees, in\n2016. The vice president is traditionally elected to the top job, so Gomez knew\nhis election was likely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, he told CNA, the real surprise\nwas becoming vice president three years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was not expecting to be the\npresident. Some people put my name forward for election as vice president [in\n2016].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo my surprise I was elected vice\npresident, then once you are the vice president, it is more likely that they\nelect you president. The whole process was a surprise to me, but I see that God\nis asking me to do it, and I just pray that with the grace of God I can do a\ngood job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gomez laughed, noting that he had\nnever expected to become a Denver auxiliary bishop in in 2001, the archbishop\nof San Antonio in 2004, or in 2010 head of the Los Angeles archdiocese, the\nlargest local Church in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The archbishop told CNA that his\ngoal is to \u201ctry to live what I preach, and then, also, my ministry to the\npeople \u2014 that\u2019s the most important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His ministry, he said, includes serving\n\u201cmy brother bishops, priests, deacons, and also the lay faithful. Because\nreally my vocation started with ministry to lay faithful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gomez acknowledged that he spends a\ngreat deal of time on administrative responsibilities, and will have more of\nthem as his term as president begins. But he said that even amid those\nresponsibilities, and even while exercising them, he has time to build the\npastoral relationships he finds so fulfilling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe fact that I am the archbishop\nof Los Angeles gives me a beautiful opportunity to be with the people, because\nthere are so many people active in the Church in Los Angeles. And also in the\nconference of bishops, really what\u2019s its all about it serving the people, so I\nhope that I can have the opportunity to be with people, in events where people\nare, and that I can continue to be a pastor which is, I believe, my vocation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gomez is the first bishop elected to\nlead the conference to be associated with Opus Dei, a Church group, founded in\nSpain and supported by Pope St. John Paul, that focuses on finding holiness in\neveryday life, and on the call to holiness of lay Catholics. The archbishop\nbecame affiliated with Opus Dei as a college student, and was a priest in the\norganization, formally called a personal prelature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The archbishop\u2019s vision of the\nChurch, focused on collaboration and friendship between laity and clerics, and\non the idea that everyone should be a saint, is informed by his experience in\nOpus Dei.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe spirituality of Opus Dei,\u201d he\ntold CNA, \u201cbasically is to strive for holiness \u2014 personal sanctification \u2014 and\nministry. Sharing our faith with everybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMost of the members of Opus Dei are\nlay faithful living their lives and working and trying to share the faith and\nto be holy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEverybody, starting with the pope\nand going through every single bishop, and priest, and deacon, we all are\ncalled to strive for holiness, with the universal call to holiness, provided to\nus by the Second Vatican Council, and also, as Pope Francis is insisting that\nwe should be missionary disciples, so that means sharing our faith with\neverybody else,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gomez told CNA that groups like Opus\nDei, along with other Church movements like the NeoCatechumenal Way and\nCommunion and Liberation that have gained popularity in recent decades,\nemphasize \u201cthe universal call to holiness making a reality in the life of the\nChurch.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAll of those different institutions\nthat are promoting the vocation of the lay faithful are a blessing for the\nChurch.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBy the work of the Holy Spirit\nthere have been in the universal Church many groups of people working as a\nmovement just to bring the beauty of the Chirstian life to the presence of the\nlay faithful all over the world,\u201d Gomez added, comparing Church movements to\nthe diversity of ministries and apostolates in parishes, which he called \u201cthe\ncenter of Christian life in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The archbishop said that in his own\nministry as a bishop, he looks to the example of Pope St. John Paul II, and,\nthat among American bishops, he has been influenced and inspired by a number of\nbishops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cObviously in the United States I\nhad the blessing of working together with Archbishop Chaput because I was his\nauxiliary bishop, so he has been a wonderful example to me. But I have been\ninfluenced by many other bishops: Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza, Archbishop\nPatrick Flores, and then Cardinal William Levada, who just passed away, he was\na good friend.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Levada, Gomez told CNA, \u201casked me,\nwhen I was a young auxiliary bishop, to be a member of the doctrine committee\nof the USCCB. So that helped me to get to know the workings of the USCCB.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gomez takes the helm of the bishops\u2019\nconference in a difficult time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sexual scandals that emerged in\nJune 2018, with revelations of abuse on the part of former cardinal Theodore McCarrick,\nhave preoccupied bishops and lay Catholics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ecclesiastical landscape has\nshifted too; the pontificate of Pope Francis is different in emphasis, tone,\nand style from those of his predecessors. Some U.S. bishops have been accused\nof resistance to Francis, and bishops have responded to his leadership in\ndifferent ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe reality of the bishops in the\nUnited States is that we all are faithful to Pope Francis,\u201d Gomez told CNA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think we all are united. There is\nsome perception that we are not. But the reality \u2014 what I see \u2014 is that we are\nunited in our ministry and in our Church.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEvery pope brings some different\naspects in the life of the Church that he, by the grace of God, believes are\nimportant. And we, the bishops of the United States, are trying to be more\naware of what those things are, and try to make it happen in our ministry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gomez acknowledged that Pope\nFrancis\u2019 leadership is not similar to that of his predecessors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think it takes time for people to\nreally understand the spirituality of Pope Francis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think there are many, many\naspects that are different. They are cultural and spiritual; it\u2019s the first\ntime in the history of the Church that there is a pope from Latin America. And\nsome of us, who have that experience, know that it is different from the\nculture in Europe, or in the United States, or in Asia,\u201d Gomez said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s also the first time there is a\nJesuit who is the pope. So every religious community, and the diocesan\npriesthood, have different spiritualities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo I think we the bishops of the\nUnited States, and I personally, are learning how to appreciate the different\naspects of the spirituality and the culture of Pope Francis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gomez added that \u201cevery bishop has\nhis own spirituality, and his own ministry in the diocese, according to the\nneeds of the people in the diocese,\u201d he said, noting the difference in his\nexperiences while serving in Denver, San Antonio, and Los Angeles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSan Antonio was basically a\ncommunity of two cultures: Hispanic culture and the Anglo-Saxon culture. Now in\nLos Angeles we have people from all over the world. So my ministry is\ndifferent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOne thing Pope Francis insists a\nlot is to respect the cultures of people, different ways of worshipping. People\nin Peru, or in Mexico, or people from Vietnam have different ways of\nworshipping and living. So the Church in the United States is learning how to\naddress the needs of people from around the world,\u201d Gomez added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As he begins his term as president,\nGomez told CNA he hopes to help the Church \u201cto really understand the cultural\nrealities of the people in the United States. I think it\u2019s important for all of\nus to be more open to that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWith immigrants, what I talk about\nis not assimilation, but integration: that they be integrated into the life of\nthe United States and the life of the Church.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Gomez discussed the importance of\nunderstanding the diversity of cultures in the Church, he also emphasized the\nsource of the Church\u2019s unity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cObviously I have the same truths as\nwe all have, the teachings of Jesus Christ, in the Catholic Church.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON (CNA) — When he became a priest four decades ago, Archbishop Jose Gomez did not expect that he would one day lead the largest archdiocese in the U.S., or the country\u2019s bishops\u2019 conference. \u201cI just wanted to be a priest,\u201d Gomez told CNA with a laugh, speaking about his election. \u201cSomehow God wanted me to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":15996,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[153],"tags":[410,147],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n