New Bishop Assignments

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BenedicamDominum

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I live in the Diocese of Richmond, where our Bishop, may God grant him rest, recently died.

I’m curious, does anyone know approximately how long it takes for a new Bishop to be assigned to a Diocese after there is a vacancy that arises?
 
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BenedicamDominum said:
I live in the Diocese of Richmond, where our Bishop, may God grant him rest, recently died.

I’m curious, does anyone know approximately how long it takes for a new Bishop to be assigned to a Diocese after there is a vacancy that arises?
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It could take years. I think in modern times, however, it is typically a matter of months or even weeks if a suitable candidate is found quickly.
 
Isn’t it more reasonable for an Auxiliary Bishop of the Late Bishop to take over for the time being before being assigned to a different position?
 
He would take over the day-to-day duties but he would not be declared Bishop on that alone.
 
In my diocese, when our last bishop died it took somewhere around 3 years until our current one was installed.
 
Domiho777 said:
Isn’t it more reasonable for an Auxiliary Bishop of the Late Bishop to take over for the time being before being assigned to a different position?
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If there was an auxiliary bishop they might be named Apostolic Administrator. That said, most diocese aren’t like Boston and have a half dozen Auxiliary Bishops; most diocese don’t have, and never have had, Auxiliary Bishops. As far as I know, the Diocese of Richmond hasn’t had an auxiliary bishop for more than 20 years so it’s a moot point in this case. I believe that Monsignor Lane is the current Apostolic Administrator.

@BenedicamDominum, in the US it is generally say 6 moths to a year unless there was a coadjunct bishop already in place. There are some Canadian dioceses that have been without an ordinary for 2 years so it is not unheard of to take several years.
 
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Usige said:
. As far as I know, the Diocese of Richmond hasn’t had an auxiliary bishop for more than 20 years so it’s a moot point in this case. I believe that Monsignor Lane is the current Apostolic Administrator.
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You are exactly correct.
Usige said:
There are some Canadian dioceses that have been without an ordinary for 2 years …
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Which compels another question.

Suppose a Catholic converted to Eastern Orthodoxy. They did so signing certain formal papers and, in the process, knowingly and legally and actually underwent a schism- and heresy-based automatic excommunication. Just for the sake of this theoretical question, let’s assume there’s no doubt that they are excommunicated.

Suppose they wanted to return to the Catholic Church but lived (and got excommunicated) in a Diocese that had a sede vacante at its Cathedral. Who would legally be able to lift such an excommunication? Especially if such a Diocese had no auxiliary Bishop(s)?
 
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BenedicamDominum said:
Which compels another question.

Suppose a Catholic converted to Eastern Orthodoxy. They did so signing certain formal papers and, in the process, knowingly and legally and actually underwent a schism- and heresy-based automatic excommunication. Just for the sake of this theoretical question, let’s assume there’s no doubt that they are excommunicated.

Suppose they wanted to return to the Catholic Church but lived (and got excommunicated) in a Diocese that had a sede vacante at its Cathedral. Who would legally be able to lift such an excommunication? Especially if such a Diocese had no auxiliary Bishop(s)?
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I am not a canon lawyer, but since schism under canon 1364 incurs a latae sententiae excommunication then we could look to canon 1355§2 which allows any bishop to lift the excommunication in sacramental confession. There are certain juridic powers granted to the Apostolic Administrator and perhaps even the metropolitan (i.e. provincial Archbishop) when the diocesan cathedra is empty, but I don’t know if it extends into that portion of law.

We’d really need someone like @acanonlawyer to weigh in on those parts of canon law.
 
As an RCIA inquirer living in this diocese, I’m interested in/affected by this topic. Right now our Pastor made a conjecture as to who it may be but I’m not going to say the name or the person’s previous appointment/title because I think it unwise to repeat speculation. In any case, we have to pray for the folks making the decision and hope that they fill the many vacant spots in the United States.
 
Right now our Pastor made a conjecture as to who it may be
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I am surprised that there is speculation about this. When I lived in Boise, we got a new bishop, but the selection was completed in secrecy.
 
Bartholo said:
Right now our Pastor made a conjecture as to who it may be
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I’m thinking that this falls more on the line of idle gossip from the pulpit. The proceedings are done in secret. A priest has no room to “speculate” that’s simply leading his flock into making their own uninformed opinions.
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BenedicamDominum said:
Suppose they wanted to return to the Catholic Church but lived (and got excommunicated) in a Diocese that had a sede vacante at its Cathedral. Who would legally be able to lift such an excommunication? Especially if such a Diocese had no auxiliary Bishop(s)?
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Hello,

The one who had temporary governance over the diocese and then the one elected as diocesan administrator would have the necessary power to remit such a penalty (see canons 426-427). Besides that, since this is an undeclared penalty, the priest in the context of Confession could remit the penalty and then make the needed recourse to the one in charge of the diocese (see c. 1357). If there is a canon penitentiary (not many of those around (unfortunately, in my opinion); cf. c. 508), then he could also remit the penalty.

Dan
 
When I was in Vermont, Bishop Matano was transferred from the Diocese of Burlington to the diocese of Rochester, NY. He was installed in Rochester on January 3, 2014 (after being appointed in November 2013). The next bishop of the diocese of Burlington was Bishop Coyne, and he was installed January 29, 2015. So, a year and nearly 4 weeks was how long we went without a bishop ‘in situ’.
 
And Rochester went a year and 2 months. Bishop Clark’s resignation due to age was accepted on September 21, 2012. Bishop Cunningham, of Syracuse, was in charge during the transition.
 
Right. But Burlington only has the one bishop, so we had Monsignor John McDermott as apostolic administer until Bishop Coyne was installed.
 
We only had one Bishop as well. Bishop Cunningham is the Bishop of Syracuse. He was our Apostolic Administrator, while he was also the Ordinary of Syracuse.
 
I’m also in the Richmond Diocese; there are currently five (six, including one in Puerto Rico, I believe) sede vacante (open chair) situations in the U.S. That doesn’t include Bishops who are serving after submitting their resignations due to age. So, we may be a while. Our parish prays regularly for wisdom in finding us a new shepherd.
 
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