Attending a USCCB meeting is a chance to observe one of the most particular, rarefied subcultures imaginable. The room is older and whiter and far more polite than almost any other similar convention gathering. Obviously, it is all male, as well. And very few conventions I have ever attended are punctuated by prayer the way a USCCB meeting is.
The bishops are company men, one and all, and I do not mean this as an insult. They dress alike. They speak alike. They use the same basic points of reference -- Scripture, tradition, recent papal pronouncements, previous USCCB documents -- in making an argument. Like the military or organized labor, those who have risen to positions of authority within the USCCB are all of them men who have dedicated their entire lives to the institution. This produces a trust among the body, even if, obviously, it also invites a limited vision of possibilities.
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