Obama meets quietly with head of U.S. bishops

Nov. 12, 2011
By Michael Sean Winters

President Obama met with New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan without fanfare Nov. 8, the White House has confirmed.

Dolan is the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The men discussed a range of issues related to the often complicated and recently fractious relationship between the administration and the U.S. church hierarchy. A spokesperson for the USCCB declined to confirm or deny the meeting.

The meeting came in advance of next week’s plenary meeting of the USCCB in Baltimore at which the bishops will discuss their new ad hoc committee on religious liberty. It was sandwiched between two of Obama’s foreign trips, to France for the G-20 summit and to Asia.

According to a White House official who spoke with NCR on background, the meeting was part of the Obama administration’s work with faith leaders from across the spectrum, and was one among many meetings with officials from the Catholic Church and the administration.

http://ncronline.org/news/politics/obama-meets-quietly-head-us-bishops

Let's try and keep this out of the 9/11 dungeon, ok?

I'd love to be a fly on the wall.