Who is the USA's Top Churchman today?

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Tis_Bearself said:
Anyway, neither Trump or Pence is a Catholic so people like Jeffress and the Prosperity Gospel preachers are what I’d expect them to have hanging around.
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The Vice President is a baptized Catholic, which, from what I understand, counts. He also refers to himself as an ‘evangelical Catholic.’
 
He quit the Church some years ago to be an evangelical. He is not a practicing Catholic regardless of what he calls himself. I believe his siblings and parents are still Catholic.

Edited to add, here is a news article confirming that he doesn’t practice. That’s a fallen-away Catholic to me. Not that Tim Kaine advertising his Catholicism while promoting abortion was any better.

www.usatoday.com

Pence shares role of Catholic upbringing, says Catholics have an ally in Trump

Pence told those attending the annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast that his Catholic upbringing helped shape him and "continues to serve me."
www.usatoday.com
 
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Duesenberg said:
Burke isn’t in the same league as DiNardo, Dolan and others. No where close.
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I disagree. Cardinal Burke is the most well-known American Cardinal around the world. First he was the prefect of the Apostolic Signatura. Then he became known for bravely helping to issue the dubia. Finally, as Cardinal Patron to the (name removed by moderator), he was in the news during the scandal that led to the ‘resignation’ of Fra Festing.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
He quit the Church some years ago to be an evangelical. He is not a practicing Catholic regardless of what he calls himself. I believe his siblings and parents are still Catholic.

Edited to add, here is a news article confirming that he doesn’t practice. That’s a fallen-away Catholic to me.
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This has been a topic here on CA for quite some time. The census does not differentiate between practicing and non-practicing. If one is baptized a Catholic, unless you formally write your Bishop to expunge yourself from the rolls, then you are considered a Catholic.
 
Saxum said:
I disagree. Cardinal Burke is the most well-known American Cardinal around the world. First he was the prefect of the Apostolic Signatura. Then he became known for bravely helping to issue the dubia. Finally, as Cardinal Patron to the (name removed by moderator), he was in the news during the scandal that led to the ‘resignation’ of Fra Festing.
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Are you serious about that? He was moved out of St. Louis because he couldn’t lead. He got booted as head of the Roman Rota and is now merely an advisor.

In any event calling Burke the US’s top churchman is rather absurd.
 
Spyridon said:
If by top Churchman you mean high ranking / Papabile, I would nominate my very own Metropolitan, His Eminence Sean Cardinal O’Malley, Metropolitan of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston.

If you mean most influential and recognizable, I’m inclined to say His Excellency Bishop Robert Barron, Auxillary Bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

And piggy backing on @twf from a Traditional Roman Catholic perspective, the Archdiocese of Baltimore is the pre-eminent episcopal See and enjoys the “prerogative of place” in the USA, so that would mean His Excellency Archbishop William E. Lori would take the cake here.

The Churchman in the United States with the most political power and therefore most temporal power would be the President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), which is currently His Eminence Daniel Cardinal DiNardo.

The Churchman with the most number of souls directly under his jurisdiction would be His Excellency Archbishop Jose Gomez, the Ordinary for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, who has over 5,000,000 souls that he is responsible for.

Finally as mentioned previously, His Eminence Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York could certainly be considered the top US Churchman as well, he is highly influential and holds tremendous power temporally and spiritually.

So any of the following could be candidate for top US Churchman - maybe start a poll asking people to vote who they feel is the #1?

Archbishop William E. Lori, Archbishop of the Baltimore Archdiocese

Sean Cardinal O’Malley, Archbishop of the Boston Archdiocese

Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of the New York Archdiocese

Archbishop Jose Gomez, Archbishop of the Los Angeles Archdiocese

Bishop Robert Barron, Auxillary Bishop of the Los Angeles Archdiocese

Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, President of the USCCB

I would say the top US Catholic Churchmen is definitely one of these men.

IMO, I would give the title to either Cardinal DiNardo, Cardinal O’Malley, or Cardinal Dolan - I’m not sure which one, though I’m inclinced to lean towards Cardinal DiNardo.
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I would include Archbishop Chaput , Archbishop of Philadelphia in there too.
 
Cardinal Burke is well known in Traditional circles and in Rome, but he is widely unknown to the average American.

Many, many more Americans will recognize Cardinal Dolan or Cardinal O’Malley but have no idea who Cardinal Burke is. IMO Cardinal Burke is not even a contender for the top position. It’s a tossup between Cardinal Dolan, Cardinal O’Malley, and Cardinal DiNardo.
 
My point is that it is hypocritical for someone to hold themself out as an example of a faith they chose to not practice or publicly not follow a major teaching of. You know perfectly well that those on both sides do it for the votes. I do not see Pence as an example of a Catholic influence in the White House any more than I saw divorced, remarried and fallen-away Reagan as one, or Biden who marries gay couples himself in his office, or Kaine standing up for abortion.

They are all quite fake.
 
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Spyridon said:
Cardinal Burke is well known in Traditional circles and in Rome, but he is widely unknown to the average American.

Many, many more Americans will recognize Cardinal Dolan or Cardinal O’Malley but have no idea who Cardinal Burke is. IMO Cardinal Burke is not even a contender for the top position. It’s a tossup between Cardinal Dolan, Cardinal O’Malley, and Cardinal DiNardo.
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I would agree. Timothy Dolan is no John O’Connor, else he would likely be the US’s top churchman. That’s said, O’Malley from Boston has a remarkable record in the Church – and a great deal of power. DiNardo is likely the most powerful prelate in the US inside of the Church, but again, he’s not overall well known, nor is he the head of a premiere archdiocese in the US.
 
Spyridon said:
Cardinal Burke is well known in Traditional circles and in Rome, but he is widely unknown to the average American.
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This is my point. Cardinal Burke is well-known in Europe. The average American may not know him but the rest of the world does. He is one of my favourite Cardinals and I would be extremely happy if he was elected Pope.
 
This is really a silly question, but if I’m going to answer, I would look at the number of boards and advisory posts they have among the USCCB,

For example: Archbishop Chaput chairs the USCCB committee on Family
Pontifical Council for the Laity
Chairman of the Board at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary
was elected to the Synod on the Family
is the sole bishop on the Board of Directors for EWTN
is a Adviser and co-founder of the Augustine Institute
founded St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver
co-founded the national Catholic Association of Latino Leaders
co-founded ENDOW - Catholic women’s group
Board of Directors for FOCUS
Board of Directors for World Youth Alliance International
Chair of the Subcommittee on Native American Catholics for USCCB
On the Board of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology

plus so many more.

So, I would consider Bishops like Chaput to be among the Top Churchmen too.
 
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