Quote of note:

the new group is expected to skirt most controversial public policy issues, at least for now, said clergy members involved with the organization

U.S. Catholic Bishops Agree to Join New Ecumenical Group
By NEELA BANERJEE

The top hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States decided yesterday to join the broadest alliance of Christian churches in the country so far, a new ecumenical group that would bring the church to the same table as conservative evangelicals and liberal Protestants.

Members of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops have played a central role in the formation of the group, Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A., since discussions began with leaders of other denominations in fall 2001. The conference approved membership in the group at a meeting in Washington.

Despite its emergence after an election campaign marked by controversial pronouncements on faith and politics by conservative Catholic and Protestant leaders, the new group is expected to skirt most controversial public policy issues, at least for now, said clergy members involved with the organization. Its goal appears instead to be more modest: to create a forum, once a year, where the leaders of a range of churches can discuss topics of common interest, from charity work to interfaith relations.

If the group wants to take a stand on abortion or stem cell research, however, its members can vote to do so, said the Rev. Arthur Kennedy, executive director of the secretariat for ecumenical and interreligious affairs at the bishops' conference. Yet formulating a common position on such a divisive issue may be difficult, given that the group will make decisions only by consensus.