Episcopalians, Southern Baptists…what about those bishops out in LA?

Well, the preliminary meetings were held over the past two days and Rocco reports they were, er…tense. We had one phone message from an attendee, but it wasn’t about anything going on there, and I don’t know if Michael ever called him back. So I have no inside scoop.

And I’m tired of posting the same old secular media stories with the same old mis-statements and Rolodex Pundits opining. I want to know what’s happening.

Here’s the website for the Millenium Biltmore, site of the meeting.

This year, EWTN isn’t providing any coverage of the meeting, which they have been for the past few, I’m fairly sure. I know they covered the 2002 meeting in Dallas because I liveblogged it.  (That was the post-Boston sexual abuse meeting).

(EWTN is providing coverage of the Rome Corpus Christi procession today, live at 1pm Eastern. You can watch it here.

You’ll also be able to watch it via the Vatican television feed, which probably means it will be sans commentary which will also probably be a blessing. Here.)

So…as we hear things, we’ll post. If you hear anything…post.

"And with your spirit…" btw.

(Correction -there was news coming out of the meeting yesterday – a news conference on immigration:

On Wednesday, the bishops criticized pieces of an immigration bill passed by the Senate in May that included a path to citizenship for many illegal immigrants, but also fortifies the border by adding patrol agents and building more fences.

The bishops said fortifying the U.S.-Mexico border wouldn’t stop the flow of illegal immigrants, which they argued could only happen by expanding programs to allow more foreigners to enter the country legally and work.

"The problem is not at the border, it’s in the labor market," said Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn, N.Y.

The bishops said the Senate’s legalization plan, which has a three-tier system depending on how long an immigrant has been in country, was "unrealistic" and could open up the door to fraud and other abuses. They advocated a more inclusive program that wouldn’t make distinctions.

On the border "we see persons who are being exploited by smugglers, and women and children who are dying in the desert," said Cardinal Roger Mahony, head of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.