Hierarchy update

Last week was monumental in the realm of episcopal appointments for the Church in the United States. Two new ordinaries were named by the Holy Father, Bishop Richard Edmund Pates, an auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis was named bishop of Des Monies, Iowa and Fr. Anthony Basil Taylor of the clergy of the archdiocese of Oklahoma City was named bishop of Little Rock, Arkansas. In the naming of these two new ordinaries the Holy Father created no new vacancies.

Further, the Holy Father named three new bishops who will serve as auxiliaries: Msgr. James Douglas Conley of the clergy of the diocese of Wichita, Kansas as auxiliary of the archdiocese of Denver. Fr. Oscar Cantu of the clergy of the archdiocese of Galveston-Houston as auxiliary of San Antonio. Fr. William J. Justice of the clergy of the archdiocese of San Francisco, as auxiliary of San Francisco. Msgr. Justice's appointment gives Archbishop Niederauer an auxiliary to replace our bishop, John Wester, who has been in Salt Lake City just a little over a year.

With these appointments the number of ordinaries serving beyond the mandatory retirement age of 75 remains the same at ten. These prelates are Cardinals Maida and Egan of Detroit and New York respectively, as well as Archbishops Hughes of New Orleans; Curtiss of Omaha, NE. Bishops serving past 75 are D'Arcy of Ft. Wayne/South Bend; IN; Murray of Kalamazoo, MI, Moynihan of Syracuse, NY; Saltarelli of Wilmingtn, DE; Tafoya of Pueblo, CO; Cullen of Allentown. PA. Archbishop Brunette of Seattle turns 75 early in 2009. Bishops Peña of Brownsville, TX; Carmody of Corpus Christi, TX; Higi of Lafayette in Indiana are all 74. It also bears noting that Archbishop Flynn of St. Paul/Minneapolis, who will also turn 75 this year, and Bishop Weigand of Sacramento have co-adjutors in the persons of Archbishop Nienstedt and Bishop Soto respectively.

The sede vacante dioceses in the United States now number seven, those being Charleston, South Carolina; Knoxville, Tennessee; Green Bay, Wisconsin; St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; Juneau, Alaska; New Ulm, Minnesota; Biloxi, Mississippi.