By Stephen P. White

But first a note: Our current fundraising continues to move along. Thank you. But we're still a long way from where we need to be. Please, consider what's at stake just now for the future of the Church. We know you care enough to be a reader. Do you care enough to be a donor? And be sure not to miss tonight's special episode of the Papal Posse: Robert Royal will join Raymond Arroyo and Fr. Gerald Murray on EWTN's "The World Over" (which also features a long discussion with suspended Bishop of Tyler, Texas, Joseph Strickland). The show airs at 8 PM Eastern Time, and will also be available on the EWTN YouTube channel shortly after first airing.

Now for Mr. White's column...

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops are meeting in Baltimore this week for their fall plenary. While the agenda for the conference is set long in advance, events in the Church and the world have a way of shaping the tenor of the meeting. This year, several such things are worth our attention.

The first such event was Pope Francis' removal of Bishop Joseph Strickland from his diocese in Tyler, Texas less than a week ago. As is often the case, the Vatican gave no official reason for the removal, which has led (predictably) to a lot of back and forth about whether the removal was punitive or if there were sufficient administrative reasons to justify it.

There are more than a few American bishops who share at least some of Strickand's concerns about, for example, the Synod on Synodality. But while some share those ecclesial concerns, few shared his affinity for what might be described as a "fire, ready, aim" strategy in voicing those concerns, particularly on social media. Put another way, Strickland didn't just stick his neck out repeatedly, he was practically daring the Vatican to take action.

Very few other bishops - even those who agree with Strickland on any number of substantive issues - have put themselves in a similar position. Call this fear or call it prudence, the notion that Strickland's removal somehow put other American bishops "on notice" seems a stretch. If Strickland's removal is a cause for consternation (and any perceived offense for the divine right of the episcopate, as Cardinal Mueller recently said, is just that), it is also likely to be something of a relief to the many bishops who saw Strickland as, if not quite a pariah, then at least imprudent and, often, a distraction.

And that brings us to the second bit of context for the meeting in Baltimore: Rome's peculiar view of the Church in the United States. Pope Francis is known to make occasional criticisms of the American Church as being full of reactionary backwardists. These jabs have not so much pricked the consciences of American bishops as they seem to have prompted confusion about just what the Holy Father is talking about.

With these criticisms in mind, it came as an unpleasant surprise to many bishops when the nuncio to the United States, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, gave an interview to America Magazine (which ran early this month) in which he echoed a similarly unflattering picture of the Church in the United States.

Among Cardinal Pierre's criticisms was that the American bishops continue to fail to understand the need for the kind of consultation and collaboration with laity that synodality is meant to promote and embody. The result, he suggests, is flagging efforts at evangelization and mission.

In his opening remarks in Baltimore on Tuesday, USCCB President, Archbishop Timothy Broglio (who attended the Synod on Synodality) went out of his way to insist that a "synodal" dynamic, far from being absent, is already an important part of the Church in the United States, even if it doesn't go by the name "synodal."

The collegial atmosphere that characterizes these assemblies, the excellent consideration and interaction that typifies the work of the National Advisory Council, the work of diocesan pastoral councils, presbyteral councils, review board...