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Bishop Rozanski during an Aug. 5th interview at the chancery of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield

(DAVE ROBACK THE REPUBLICAN)

Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, will be installed as the ninth bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, on Aug. 12 at 2 p.m. at St. Michael's Cathedral, with a public reception at 5 p.m., at the Better Living Center on the grounds of the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield.

During an Aug. 5 meeting at the diocesan offices, Rozanski welcomed questions on a variety of topics, with the resultant interview, Springfield's Bishop Mitchell Rozanski, loyal to Orioles, Church doctrine and being a listener, offering insight into the next generation of bishops, as well as into the Church under Pope Francis.

The Catholic Church has faced disgrace globally during the last decade, as victims of pedophile priests have broken years of silence, and unsealed court documents revealed patterns of cover up within dioceses, as suspected clergy were reassigned by bishops, rather than reported. The Church in the U.S., alone, has paid out billions in settlement awards to victims.

A United Nations committee recently accused the Vatican of violating an anti-torture treaty it signed, in 2002, by failing to report accusations of abuse to legal authorities.

Francis, who became became pope in March, has promised to hold bishops accountable for any failures of reporting, and he has appointed a commission to advise him on Church efforts on protection of minors, and outreach to victims. The United States Catholic Conference of Bishops, in 2005, created a charter mandating what dioceses must do when sex abuse allegations are made.

Against this background, Rozanski was asked to what extent the Church's failure to report clergy sex abuse contributed to a lessening of its influence on secular society.

Rozanski said that the Church cannot evangelize, "unless we ourselves are evangelized and rooted fully in the Gospel." He spoke about the effectiveness of the 2005 charter, and the need for dioceses to stay vigilant. In terms of secular culture, he said, today's

"crime, drugs, general lack of respect for one another, is really based on in the disintegration of family life."

"What we offer as Catholics is to strengthen the family as the basis of society. When there is a solid family life, there is less likelihood of crime, there is less likelihood of drug use. The children grow up with a solid foundation. And that is a foundation they can take all through their lives," Rozanski said. "And, as a Church, what we are saying is that God made us male and female, and that the institution of marriage is so crucial. It is a sacrament of the Church, if the sacrament is well lived, then the children and future generations will benefit."

Last September, Francis, in an interview, said abortion, contraception and gay marriage had become an "obsessed" focus in the Church. Last July, he also said, “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge."

However, Church teaching that married love is between a man and a woman, for the purpose of reproduction, as ordered by nature, that itself was ordered by God, is not likely to be modified, no matter the pastoral approach to it. Similarly, the Church regards any interference with the act of conception as wrong.

U.S. bishops continue to speak out against abortion, oppose same sex marriages, and to support legislation that would ban them. Three major meetings of the bishops, including two dealing with a confidential survey that sought parishioner responses on relationship and lifestyle issues, in the next year all deal with family, and the Church authorities have already said "the doctrine of the Church is not up for discussion."

The October extraordinary synod, the first at the Vatican dealing with the survey, is entitled "The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the context of Evangelization." A followup, involving many more bishops from around the world, will be held next October.

The 8th World Meeting of Families, scheduled next September in Philadelphia, has the theme "Love is our mission: the family fully alive." There is the possibility that Francis will attend.