Nominees for USCCB presidency announced

The USCCB has announced the 10 candidates for presidency and vice presidency of the conference. The president is elected from these 10 nominees, and the vice president is elected from the remaining nine. Here are the candidates:

*Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans
*Archbishop Charles Chaput, OFM Cap., of Philadelphia
*Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Wash.
*Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston
*Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles
*Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Ky.
*Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore
*Archbishop Dennis Schnurr of Cincinnati
*Archbishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit
*Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami

It is an interesting list. The most obvious thing about it is the name that is not there: Cardinal Sean O'Malley, OFM Cap, who has become Pope Francis' "go-to" guy in the U.S. The work of the Council of Cardinals advising Pope Francis is time consuming and, in the event, more vital than anything that will be happening at the USCCB for the next three years, so O'Malley was smart to decline nomination.

Smart money says Kurtz is more or less a lock for the presidency. He is currently the VP at the USCCB, and he does not belong to any ideological camp. His early years doing social justice ministry as a priest in Allentown, Pa., shaped his understanding of the church in ways that would be simpatico with the vision of Pope Francis. And perhaps most importantly, he is well liked by his brother bishops. That means the real contest will be for the vice presidency.