This morning Pope Benedict XVI made the following changes in the USA:
Bishop William Edwin Franklin retired and Bishop Martin John Amos was named Bishop of Davenport, Iowa, USA. Bishop Amos had been serving as an Auxiliary Bishop of Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
Bishop John Patrick Boles retired as an Auxiliary Bishop, Bishop-elect John A. Dooher and Bishop-elect Robert F. Hennessey were named Auxiliary Bishops of Boston, Massachusetts, USA and titular bishops of Theveste and Tigias, respectively.
What is your source for this news?
Hope he soon announces the changes in my diocese and in the Detroit diocese too…
But then, we have what we deserve, and we will get what we deserve… God is always in charge.
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Grazie!
Thank God, things are changing.
I need some HELP. I am in the Davenport diocese and have been praying for our new bishop. Can anyone tell me what kind of Guy bishop Marton Amos is???PLEEEEESE! Please let him be convervative puleese let him be an orthodox thinking kind of guy. We need it really really really BAD!
ANyone anyone???
I’m curious about the attitudes and characters of these new Bishops and will postpone celebrating until I learn more about them. These appointments will indicate where BXVI wants the US Church to go.
For those who don’t already know davidc2 is in fact the proprietor of the very cool bishop site Catholic Hierarchy. Visit.
John
My diocese (Youngstown, OH) has been without a bishop for over a year and I’m a bit confused by that. I’m new to the church and don’t know anything about how bishops are chosen. I looked at davidc2’s bishop site and it looks like my area is one of only five US dioceses wthout a bishop (Youngstown having been without for the longest, over 1 1/2 years). Why wouldn’t we be appointed one? Aren’t there enough to go around ? Does anyone know anything about how bishops are appointed and why a diocese would be without a bishop?
When a bishop dies, retires, is “reassigned”, or otherwise must leave his ministry for a diocese it is not unusal that his position may be left vacant for a period of time until the Vatican finds a suitible replacement. Sometimes, that period is unfortunately longer than would be desired due to whatever circumstances. Given, this causes much turmoil and frustration.
The basic process for chosing a bishop involves the Congregation for Bishops looking at the situation of the diocese, finding a good “match” and making recommendations to the pope. The pope, ultimately, makes the appointment. The man chosen is asked to accept the assignment (he can refuse) and should he do so, is announced and installed as bishop. (name removed by moderator)ut as to what must be considered in choosing a new bishop as well as who might make good candidates is periodically offered to the Congregation for Bishops by the papal nuncio (representative) for each country as well as fellow bishops and sometimes laypersons.
Hopefully, you will have a shepherd soon.
I counted seven: Lake Charles, Youngstown, Birmingham, Salt Lake City, Little Rock, Pittsburgh, Great Falls-Billings. As it’s been explained to me, the process chicago describes normally takes ~ 8 months. If for some reason the candidate is rejected in the end, or declines the appointment, the process must start again from the beginning - so if you don’t get a bishop at around the 8 month mark, it’ll likely be 15-16 months. There are political and administrative issues that may cause additional delay - Youngstown obviously isn’t as critical a vacancy as a much bigger diocese like say Los Angeles, so one might expect all things being equal, smaller dioceses won’t get acted on by the busy bureaucrats quite as quickly as more prominent sees.
Also, on that list of vacant sees, you’ll notice there were no vacancies which occurred for a month or so after April 2, 2005, when the pope died. Retirements and appointments must be accepted by the pope, of which there was none for a couple weeks. I heard that this delayed the retirement of the Birmingham bishop, whose retirement was not officially accepted for awhile because of the turmoil at the Vatican. In Youngstown the see was already vacant by the time of John Paul’s death, so I don’t think events in Rome should have made much difference.
It does seem like a really long time for appointments. I hope and pray that Benedict will appoint some great Bishops in the future. Lake Charles has been vacant for the longest time.
Thank you for the info!
Obviously I missed a few vacancies when I scanned the list. Oops. Oh the joys of dyslexia! :rolleyes:
What is lexdysxia and why is it joyful?
Switch the lex with the dys.
Our super-lib bishop reached 75, sent in his resignation as required, and he’s STILL THERE! Uh, Youngstown and Lake Charles…
Do you mean his resignation has not been accepted, OR that he’s now the diocesan administrator rather than bishop, with minimal ability to set local policies?
Wasn’t that about two years ago? And you guys are still waiting?
I really don’t understand why a retirement normally would have to be accepted to begin the process of finding a new bishop. I mean, there are certainly cases where a retirement is accepted at pretty much the same time that the new bishop is appointed. Or, similarly, in the case of a major see where the death of a bishop was clearly imminent and the appointment of his replacement quickly followed his passing. So, unless there is serious illness or something, why not just hold off on leaving a see vacant until the Vatican is prepared to name a successor?