SECTION: TELEGRAPH ,5A

LENGTH: 459 words

HEADLINE: Catholic bishops to address justice reforms, abortion
Protests on gay rights likely at D.C. meeting

BYLINE: John Rivera

SOURCE: SUN STAFF

BODY:
WASHINGTON - Continuing their longtime advocacy of social justice, the U.S. Roman Catholic bishops opened their fall meeting yesterday. They are expected to approve statements defending immigrants, condemning abortion and calling for reforms to the criminal justice system.

The nearly 300 bishops attending the four-day meeting of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops face protests by gay and lesbian Catholics and other Christians who object to the Catholic Church's teaching that a homosexual orientation is " intrinsically disordered." More than a hundred protesters - members of Dignity/USA, made up of gay and lesbian Catholics, and Soulforce, an interdenominational group pressing for gay rights in churches - are expected to be arrested this morning at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Northeast Washington as the bishops meet at a hotel several miles away.

The subject of homosexuality is not on the bishops' agenda, but several heated issues will be discussed, including a statement condemning the U.S. Supreme Court for its June decision declaring a Nebraska law prohibiting a form of late-term abortion unconstitutional.

The statement, "The U.S. Supreme Court and the Culture of Death," was written by the bishops' Committee for Pro-Life Activities, which is led by Baltimore's Cardinal William H. Keeler.

A draft of the statement, scheduled for a vote tomorrow morning, says the Supreme Court's decision "has brought our legal system to the brink of endorsing infanticide."

"The statement before you provides us the opportunity to recommit ourselves publicly to what ... will be the long and difficult task of seeking to reverse the Supreme Court's abortion decisions and to doing everything possible to bring this about," Keeler told his fellow bishops.

The bishops will also consider a statement tomorrow on criminal justice reform that questions mandatory sentencing and "three strikes and you're out" laws, and advocates drug treatment as a way of attacking the underlying cause of much crime. It recommends a "restorative" approach to punishing criminals that takes into account the needs and human dignity of the victims, the offender and the community.

It also reaffirms the bishops' staunch opposition to capital punishment, calling it a "cruel, unnecessary and arbitrary" act that "often has racial overtones."

A resolution on immigration reform and a statement on immigrants in the church will also be considered during the meeting.

During the morning session, the bishops were briefly interrupted by a woman, accredited as a journalist, who approached a microphone and called for the prelates to address social justice for women in the church. The woman was not arrested.



LOAD-DATE: November 14, 2000