"As our country enters the 2020 presidential campaign year, we want to share with you some thoughts about practicing civility for the common good. 'For all Catholics, including those seeking public office, our participation in political parties or other groups to which we may belong should be influenced by our faith, not the other way around' (2019 introduction to Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship). . . ."
"The recent past has been immensely challenging for our church. The abuse crisis looms over us despite our efforts to be transparent. We face a future shortage of pastors and the painful reality that many young Catholics are not in the pews. This region continues to boom, but we are not seeing an increase in registered Catholics. While we cannot ignore these challenges, we also cannot let them define us. Instead, we must retrain our focus and renew our commitment to the mission of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. . . . Today I am eager to announce two important initiatives: a new pastoral planning effort to enable greater mission effectiveness and a strategic planning effort to ensure wise stewardship as we answer Christ’s ongoing call to rebuild his church." . . .