Big news today in episcopal appointments: Bishop Robert Vasa of Baker, Oregon, has just been tapped as coadjutor bishop of Santa Rosa, California. According to Whispers in the Loggia, the current bishop of Santa Rosa, Bishop Daniel Walsh, will turn 73 in October, meaning that Bishop Vasa could be taking over the reins of the [...]

We are all familiar with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and I suspect most of us accept it as a fact of life. I further suspect that most of us have never really considered the who, what, why, or wherefore of such conferences in the Church. This does not mean that the [...]

Last night's Partnership Dinner was a great success -- so successful, in fact, that we're all going to be a little slow out of the gate this morning. So rather than the usual Friday round-up, I thought I'd share a few shots from the evening: Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of the Susan B. Anthony List, [...]

As Brian mentioned, all of us here at InsideCatholic are headed to our 15th annual Partnership Dinner tonight, where we'll honor Bishop Vasa for his service to the Church. It's a little hectic at IC headquarters today as a result, so in our absence, I'll leave you with this, which had me totally mesmerized this [...]

UPDATED 9/13 Rev. David J. Mullen is pastor of Saint Brendan's Parish in Bellingham, MA, but perhaps not for long.  Father Mullen told entire parish on the weekend of September 4-5 that he will very likely be removed as pastor and be named parochial vicar because of his refusal to use the Talking About Touching [...]

Too often, Catholic commentators, including myself, speak about American bishops in the plural. The existence of a national bishops' conference unfortunately encourages this habit, one that obscures a basic fact about the Catholic Church: It is individual bishops who are responsible for sanctifying the lives of the Catholic faithful. There's no better antidote to the [...]

  You are cordially invited to join the board, staff, writers and friends of InsideCatholic in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, September 16, for our 15th Annual Partnership Dinner & Dance. This year, we'll be honoring Bishop Robert F. Vasa, D.D., of the Diocese of Baker, Oregon. In an era of lukewarm, go-along-to-get-along prelates, Bishop Vasa [...]

On the heels of the health-care debate comes a potentially more contentious furor over proposed immigration legislation. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who helped secure abortion funding in the health-care bill, is now telling us the bishops came to her and said, "We want you to pass immigration reform." But Pelosi wants help from the bishops: [...]

Debates about what a Catholic hospital must (and must not) do to be considered fully "Catholic" are nothing new, but this latest step by Bishop Vasa perhaps is: The diocese of Baker, Oregon, has announced that it will be "ending its official sponsorship" of St. Charles Medical Center, a historically Catholic hospital: “It is my responsibility [...]

Bishop Robert Vasa's latest column, which deals with the proper understanding of excommunication and the role it should play in political matters, was published in yesterday's Catholic Sentinel (the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Portland and the Diocese of Baker). Many gallons of ink (both actual and digital) have been spilt on this matter, and I don't think the [...]