February 6, 2020 11:30 am
The Most Reverend George V. Murry, SJ PhD.
Bishop of the Diocese of Youngstown
Topic: The Church in America and the Social Gospel Movement 1880 to 1900
Biography:
On January 30, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him the fifth Bishop of the Diocese of Youngstown. Later that year, he was elected Secretary of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, and he was re-elected to a three-year term the following year.
Murry has served on numerous boards, including those of the University of Detroit, St. Joseph’s University, Mount St. Mary’s College, Loyola Academy in Detroit, and Loyola University Chicago. He is a member of the boards of Fairfield University and Catholic Relief Services. He has served as the chairman of the Committee on Domestic Policy of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and on the board of directors for the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, and the Athenaeum of Ohio/Mount St. Mary’s Seminary of the West, Cincinnati, Ohio.
In September 2015, Pope Francis appointed Murry a member of the Synod of Bishops that met the following month to discuss family life. At that meeting, he said he supported the view that church practice toward the divorced and remarried could change without altering doctrine. He said he supported greater participation from theologians, cultural historians, and other experts, and that the Synod needed to find a way to hear the voices of the people who were the subject of its discussions. He also supported the creation of commission to consider allowing women to serve as deacons. He said: “It would be a wise idea to look into it, to learn more about it and then to present a proposal to the pope to say there either are theological problems, or not. And if not, let’s move forward.”