Meeting opens with debate over time allotted to discuss Communion proposal

The first day of the U.S. bishops’ June 16-18 spring assembly began with drafting of a formal statement on the “meaning of the Eucharist in the life of the church,” remarks from Archbishop Christophe Pierre, papal nuncio and an address by Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.