ORLANDO, Fla. (OSV News) — The Church must “put out into the deep” and “create hope in Christ,” said Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The archbishop shared his thoughts in his opening address at the USCCB’s annual spring plenary assembly, taking place June 10-12 in Orlando.
The public sessions of the meeting, June 10 and 11, were being livestreamed through the USCCB’s website at usccb.org.
Archbishop Coakley opened the public sessions with his first address as USCCB president, having been elected during the conference’s annual fall meeting in November 2025.
Lighthearted quote from Blessed John Paul I
He began his remarks with a lighthearted quote of a comment Blessed John Paul I reportedly made to the cardinals upon his papal election: “May God forgive you for what you have done.”
Also speaking to the bishops was Archbishop Gabriele G. Caccia, who was appointed as papal nuncio to the U.S. in March, having previously served as the Holy See’s permanent observer to the United Nations. Archbishop Caccia succeeded Cardinal Christophe Pierre, who turned 80 in January and had served in the post since 2016.
The meeting will see expected votes on several action items on the USCCB’s agenda, which was publicly released June 8.
Among those items are revisions to the USCCB’s “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People,” adopted in 2002 and updated at regular intervals over the ensuing years; episcopal consultations for the canonization causes of Slovenian missionary priest Msgr. Joseph Francis Buh and lay American John Rick Miller; and proposed adjustments to portions of several liturgical texts. Presentations on several initiatives, such as Catholic prison ministry and World Youth Day 2027, were also scheduled.
Impact of bishops’ fall immigration message
In his address, Archbishop Coakley said he was “especially pleased to recognize the impact” of the USCCB’s special message on migration, which was released during the conference’s November 2025 plenary assembly under Archbishop Coakley’s predecessor as USCCB president, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese of the Military Services.
The statement, overwhelmingly approved by the U.S. bishops, came amid the Trump administration’s hardline crackdown on immigration, which has seen sweeping mass detentions and deportations.
The USCCB message “demonstrated our united concern as pastors for the dignity of every person, especially our migrant brothers and sisters,” said Archbishop Coakley.
He noted that “the concern, the grief over how people are being treated, expressed in our message, remains as relevant now,” adding, “We continue to advocate for “meaningful reform of our nation’s immigration laws and procedures.”
Unity of bishops and Pope Leo XIV
Archbishop Coakley said he was “grateful” for the unity of the U.S. bishops with each other and with Pope Leo XIV, whom he quoted frequently in his comments.
The archbishop said that during the past six months of his tenure as USCCB president, he had returned “many times” to Luke 5:4, the Scripture verse that he chose for his episcopal motto: “Duc in altum.”
“It is the verse from the Gospel according to St. Luke where the Lord says to Peter, ‘Put out into the deep and lower your nets for a catch,’” he explained.
The words are not only a source of comfort but “a command and a challenge,” said Archbishop Coakley.
Both the Church and its bishops are “commanded to put out into the deep water, to move beyond our comfort zones and the safe places where we can maintain our illusions of safety and control.”
He added, “Obeying this command is perhaps more necessary at this moment than ever.”
Today’s constant challenges
Archbishop Coakley pointed to current challenges such as “constant flux … forced migration, polarization, disruptions, climatic, and economic upheavals, artificial intelligence, and wars,” as well as the struggles of those who “are wondering what it even means to be a human person.”
To restore hope, he said, “the truth of Christ must be proclaimed all the more confidently.”
Peace, “which is the heart of the truth of Christ, always brings hope,” said Archbishop Coakley.
Threats to that hope include attacks on human dignity, especially against “the unborn … the elderly … the sick and suffering,” he said.
He also cited “the violence of war and injustice,” as well as “the scourge of racism,” “abuse, disdain and contempt — especially towards the poor, the stranger, the condemned and the outcast.”
Preaching that ‘life is a gift from God’
Restoring hope “necessitates preaching” that “life is a gift from God,” said Archbishop Coakley. “Every life has value and dignity, and we cannot forfeit that dignity, even when it is besmirched by sin and wickedness. It comes from God.”
That truth “will renew hope in the hardest of hearts,” he said.
Another threat is polarization “within our country, and even within our Church,” said the archbishop, who described such division as “a scandal that can only be overcome through encounter, through the cultivation of interpersonal relationships and conversations between those who may disagree.”
“We must never give up on those who are different or see things differently,” he said.
Archbishop Coakley said that the “record numbers” entering the Church this year and prior were both “a great sign of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit” and “a further example of how we need to put out into the deep.”
‘The disaffiliated and the unaffiliated’
The bishops’ current mission directive, “to reach out to the disaffiliated and the unaffiliated, remains a major task in helping to restore hope,” he said.
Looking ahead to the U.S. bishops’ June 11 consecration of the nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Archbishop Coakley said he was “reminded how deep, unfathomable, and profound is the love that lives in that heart, and how it embraces the entire world.”
“It excludes no one,” he said. “Can there be a greater message of hope? Can a greater gift of hope be offered? It is the love flowing from the Sacred Heart of Jesus that feeds our hope.”
Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X @GinaJesseReina.
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