More on Mahony
My exclusive that a coadjutor bishop has been chosen for Cardinal Mahony in Los Angeles has generated a great deal of attention and speculation since it was published, including a response (of sorts) from the Los Angeles spokesman.
First of all I’d like to clear up a misleading element in my first post: I did not mean to imply that Mahony had “chosen” his successor.
The decision, as is always the case with episcopal appointments, came directly from Rome. And while Mahony has been made aware of the choice and has “approved” of it, his approval carries no canonical effect.
I can now add a couple more details from what I know. First, I am told the public announcement of Mahony’s successor will be made around March 1st. So we have another month to wait, unless I have solid information I can make public before then. It is my understanding that, while most of the priests in the Archdiocese know a successor has been chosen, no one knows for sure who it is.
Once the announcement has been made, the installation will occur within three months. And after that Mahony will quickly wrap-up his remaining responsibilities.
Many candidates have been suggested for his replacement, but no name appears more likely than the rest, and in these situations, I am prone to believe that no one actually knows for sure. If that changes, of course, you can expect to hear from me, here.
One of the surprising things to come out of my pursuit of this story? Mahony has a Facebook page. But I wouldn’t expect to find out the update over there first.
Photo: Theological Clowning.
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[...] the story broke into the open late last week after the American Papist blogger Thomas Peters reported that Mahony “has approved a coadjutor bishop [sic] recently selected for him,” and that [...]
My guess is that it’s going to be Bp. Richard Garcia of Monterey.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Thomas Peters, New Advent and Carson Weber, kathleen hagen. kathleen hagen said: RT @americanpapist: New on AmP: More on Mahony http://bit.ly/a63gv7 {Please RT!} [...]
Let us pray that the replacement has orthodoxy values.
The names I’m hearing are Gomrz, Chaput and Olmstead.
Here in the Diocese of Providence, we have seven bishops in residence.
Most Rev. Thomas Tobin is our Ordinary (although, in my opinion he’s really EXTRAordinary . . . and NO – you can’t have him!). His newly consecrated Auxiliary is Bishop Robert Evans. We have two retired Bishops of Providence (Gelineau and Mulvee); one retired Bishop (Boland) who served overseas and happens to be a Dominican and resides in the Dominican community at Providence College; one retired Bishop (Pearce) who served in Asia; and one retired Auxiliary (Roque) from the Archdiocese for the U.S. Military.
That’s a lotta Bishops for a Diocese with just about 650,000 Catholics!
What happens to bishops when they get succeeded? They go fishing! or golfing! Actually, they only retire from administrative duties. They are still a bishop and still function as a bishop in the diocese where they recide; they are just not in charge anymore and are quite happy that some else has to worry about holding down the fort now. We still have Bishop McFarland here in the Diocese of Orange who retired and was succeeded by Bishop Tod Brown who was brought here from Idaho. Which brings up another question: Bishop Tod Brown is about the same age as Cardinal Mahoney so he is under the same requirement to submit his retirement request to the Pope by the time he reaches 75 years of age. Is there any talk about who will succeed him for the Diocese of Orange?
As I have not a clue who it could be, I’ll just observe that the line about “the installation will occur within three months” seems a bit off. Canon 382.2 indicates 4 months to take possession of an arch/diocese if one is not already a bishop, and 2 months to do so if one is already a bishop. So, “three months” seems an odd way to phrase it. Oh well, whoever it is has my prayers.
I pray that its not Bishop Olmsted. We need him to keep up his amazing work in Phoenix!
Nick,
When the bishop gets succeeded after they reach 75, that usually means they are going to go into retirement. Mahony will stay around for a time in this case if they call the new bishop a coadjutor.
I look forward to whenever the announcement will come. I’m praying for whomever the replacement will be.
Hope you get this one! rlt
I pray it isn’t Archbishop Chaput we need him in Colorado
What happens to Bishops when they get succeeded? Do they retire?
Caption of the Day/PPOTD
