The year was 2004. The Diocese of Arlington had just celebrated its 30th anniversary. And Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde and Richmond Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo realized that the two Virginia dioceses needed a state conference to advocate for the Catholic Church on the legislative level.
“It was important for both bishops to be able to join together and be able to have a spokesperson … so that we could keep our people well-informed on key issues in which the Church should be involved in from its point of teaching and morality,” said Bishop Loverde, now Bishop Emeritus of Arlington.
So, in January 2005, the two bishops launched the Virginia Catholic Conference (VCC), based in Richmond. They invited Jeff Caruso, who at the time was working at the Maryland Catholic Conference, to serve as executive director of the new enterprise. He was joined in February by Lynne Liggan, who started as the office’s administrative assistant and eventually became office manager.
From the onset, Liggan, Caruso and the two bishops hit the ground running. “It was just learning how the Virginia Assembly works and how we could set up an advocacy network,” she said.
In those early years, the VCC helped enact some positive pro-life laws. In 2006, the conference successfully advocated for a constitutional amendment, adding the “One Man, One Woman” provision in the state’s Bill of Rights: “That only a union between one man and one woman may be a marriage valid in or recognized by this Commonwealth and its political subdivisions.”
The VCC secured a win for Catholic schools in 2012 with the approval of the Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Credits Program, a 65% tax credit for donations made to approved scholarship foundations providing scholarship grants for students in need attending private schools, including Catholic schools.
When Bishop Michael F. Burbidge arrived as Bishop of Arlington in 2016, the VCC’s legislative goals were much the same as they are today. “The VCC was dealing with the same fundamental issue that we’re addressing today, and it’s basically ensuring that every human life is protected by law,” Bishop Burbidge said.
Two years later, Bishop Barry C. Knestout arrived as Bishop of Richmond in January 2018. He said that evangelizing the faith within the VCC moves both ways: the conference not only provides an example to the faithful of how to enact Catholic social teaching but also acts as a faithful witness to the legislators.
“One of the key roles of the bishop is to be a teacher of the faith,” Bishop Knestout said. “Moral choices are infused in all kinds of legislative issues.”
The VCC does not align with any one political party. “Because our agenda cuts across political categories, we’re able to establish good relationships with people on both sides of the aisle,” Caruso said.
“Our Catholic social teaching says very strongly that we advocate for the poor, the immigrant, the isolated. And we also advocate for the … human person and an understanding of human sexuality,” Bishop Knestout said.
For legislative issues of grave importance, the bishops publish joint statements. “You can’t issue a statement with every issue that surfaces,” Bishop Burbidge said. “So, when it is a joint statement from Bishop Knestout and (me), we’re saying, ‘This is of high priority.’”
The bishops will also reach out to state officials, including the governor. “We’ll communicate with either the legislators by letter or with the governor’s office, asking that he would veto or support or sign certain legislation going through,” Bishop Knestout said.
A huge victory came in 2021 with the abolition of the death penalty. “We came a long way since I first started,” Caruso said, “whereas in 2005 and some of those early years, we were actually fighting against legislation that would expand the death penalty even further.”
But since then, another growing threat to life has emerged legislatively, Bishop Burbidge said. “It’s going to be an ongoing challenge with assisted suicide in Virginia. Proposals resurface annually, so we’ll have to continue to be steadfast,” he said.
Looking forward, “our number one priority is to defeat the abortion referendum,” Bishop Burbidge said. The constitutional amendment would make abortion accessible to virtually every Virginian, regardless of age or parental consent for minors.
“The first stage of that resolution passed during the 2025 session. And then, if it passes again in 2026, it would go to the ballot in November 2026,” Caruso said.
Despite ongoing challenges, the bishops are hopeful. “We are a people that always carries with us the virtue of hope. And hope is that confidence that God will bring about his own promises no matter how hopeless everything seems to be,” Bishop Knestout said.
The three bishops are in agreement: the conference’s biggest asset is Caruso. “He is well respected in the legislative buildings (where) people, even those who disagree with us, respect Jeff and the way he dialogues, the way he listens, and the way he communicates,” Bishop Burbidge added.
Caruso, Liggan and the bishops attest that they cannot do it alone, however. With more than 700,000 Catholics in Virginia, only 12,000 are actively engaged through the VCC network, according to Caruso. “There’s so much more potential out there for more and more people to become engaged, to join the network,” he said.
“We do not in any way ‘bombard’ people,” Bishop Burbidge said with a smile. “We provide them with a very user-friendly way, an easy way of communicating (with) their elected officials, even providing them a template or a draft for them to send or a phone number to call.”
Every Catholic advocate’s voice is powerful, he added. Bishop Burbidge said state legislators and their staff have said that “every email, every phone call, every letter is counted, and they make a difference.”
Looking back over the last two decades, Bishop Loverde said the VCC has been an essential voice in Virginia’s political discourse.
“It’s very important we be faithful to the truth,” he said. “And this is why we have this entity, this initiative to speak so clearly and so frequently, to invite all of us to use our God-given intelligence, conscience and vote.”
This story is republished with permission from the Arlington Catholic Herald.
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