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Daniel Cardinal Dinardo, the Archbishop of Galveston-Houston, and incoming head of the US Bishops’ pro-life activities office, graciously met with me and a small group of other Catholic media representatives this morning.

Cardinal DiNardo celebrated the annual Mass for Life last night at the Basilica of the National Shrine here in Washington DC, and will be very active today for the March itself.

Here are a couple notes I tweeted after my meeting, now with some editing:

Cardinal Dinardo stressed the continuity of the pro life office despite the head of that office changing on a consistent basis (the head of this office is always a cardinal, representing the importance and priority attached to it by the bishops). The staff remains much the same, though he is inviting some new bishops to join the committee and he has invited the former head – Justin Cardinal Rigali – to also remain as a member.

The cardinal expressed openness to more new media outreach from the pro life office, saying he has nothing against such initiatives in theory, but obviously would have to see the proposal before approving it. (The USCCB already has a media blog and twitter account, as well as Facebook. There is a consensus, however, that these social networks need to be better utilized.)

The cardinal says he wants to see the pro-life office work more closely with the other departments, noting the participation in health care press releases of the office for domestic affairs, for instance. Or to take another example, when the immigration issue is taken up by the next congress, he hopes the pro-life office will also participate in shaping that discussion. 

The cardinal stressed that he is still getting used to his new role in the pro life office, but is excited and pleased with the work of the office up until this point. He noted, with some humor, that the time he was first taking over his duties (last November/December) was a particularly busy time for them.

Indeed, that’s when many of the deciding votes for health care were first being cast.

Photo: gmgayda