"The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which meets next week in Baltimore and will be choosing its own leadership team, is as divided as America itself. Instead of binding wounds and heralding a path of justice, the bishops have not reached a consensus among themselves on how to move forward in unity. ... But four days before they gather, that doesn’t seem likely."

If anything, this nation is, to quote Pope Francis, "like a field hospital".  Rather than cultivating division, the US Bishops are presented with what Olivier Messiaen calls "choq de grace" - the shock of Grace coming to the Church and its leaders in the guise of its opposite (to quote that wise reformer, Martin Luther).

Now is the time for the bishops to lead the whole church as wound dressers, without first asking about the right cholesterol level or blood pressure.

If they remain hard of heart, then Catholics and all people of good will are morally obliged to disobey them and do what Jesus calls them to do: heal.