Archbishop Alexander Sample has been elected chairman of the US bishops’ Committee for Religious Liberty after an unusual tie in the conference vote.
The plenary meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops delivered an unexpected moment when the routine election of a committee chair ended in an extraordinary stalemate.
The vote for the leadership of the bishops’ religious liberty committee produced a deadlock, with Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland and Bishop Michael Sis of San Angelo each receiving 111 votes. What followed was a rare display of procedural uncertainty and personal restraint before the assembly.
