Pope Benedict XVI and Archbishop Charles J. Chaput
Posted on 07/19/2011 5:05:05 AM PDT by NYer
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Pope Benedict appointed Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver on July 19 to lead the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
Cardinal Justin Rigali, who reached the age of retirement in April 2010, will serve as apostolic administrator until Archbishop Chaput's installation on Sept. 8. Cardinal Rigali has headed the Philadelphia archdiocese since 2003.
The Pope's appointment comes as the archdiocese struggles to deal effectively with clerical sex abuse allegations.
In March, Cardinal Rigali placed 21 priests on administrative leave following a grand jury report claiming to have credible accusations of misconduct against them. According to the report, some of the priests were still in active ministry at the time.
Since Archbishop Chaput's began leading the Denver archdiocese in 1997, it has launched numerous endeavors, such as the founding of the local St. John Vianney Seminary, which boasts one of the highest seminary enrollment rates in the country.
Archbishop Chaput has also been influential in the success of several Colorado-based organizations, including the nationwide missionary group Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS), the international women's group Educating on the Nature and Dignity of Women (ENDOW), and the Augustine Institute, a lay Catholic graduate school.
From 2003 to 2006, the archbishop served on the U.S. Commission of International Religious Freedom.
He has also served on numerous U.S. bishops' committees involving marriage and family, pro-life activities, and migration.
Archbishop Chaput was born in 1944, in Concordia, Kansas. He attended school and seminary locally and later joined the St. Augustine Province of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin in 1965.
After studying at St. Fidelis College Seminary in Herman, Pennsylvania and later at the Catholic University in Washington, D.C., he was ordained to the priesthood in 1970.
In 1977, Archbishop Chaput became pastor of Holy Cross Parish in Thornton, Colorado, and vicar provincial for the Capuchin Province of Mid-America.
He was then ordained Bishop of Rapid City, South Dakota in 1988. In 1997, Pope John Paul II appointed him Archbishop of Denver.
As member of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Tribe, Archbishop Chaput is the second Native American to be ordained bishop in the United States, and the first Native American archbishop.
He will be installed on Sept. 8 at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia.
Oh how we needed Chaput in Albany! The nail biting wait begins.
Absolutely wonderful! Deo Gratias!
Best wishes to Philadelphia! (Foul, foggy, filthy, fetid ... as dear John Adams observed ...)
I wonder if he’ll be welcomed by howling hordes of Tolerant Rainbow Persons, as the new Archbishop in Austria was.
Yet, that is where the USA was born. Congrats to the new Archbishop.
North Carolina declared independence first ;-).
That is why then North Carolina on their licence plates say “first in the nation”, and not just in air flight then.
But Philadelphia is where the Declaration and Constitution was put together.
Vivat!
Those of us in Colorado will feel a great loss. Pray for us!
I do hope the Pope will find a good bishop also for Denver!
ahhhhhhhhhhhh. I get it now. The road to Albany leads through Philly.
I pity Arch Dolan, I really do.
Fr. Z's comments seem appropriate for those in dioceses like Albany:
WDTPRS extends congratulations to the people of Philadelphia for the appointment of His Excellency Most Rev. Charles Chaput as their new Archbishop! Condolences to the people of Denver, who must now begin a process of prayer in expectation of the appointment of a new archbishop.
For those of you who are waiting for the appointment of a bishop, here are two proposals I made elsewhere:
PROPOSAL 1: Stop, now, and say a prayer to the guardian angels of those who must make this decision.
PROPOSAL 2: If your diocese is presently “sede vacante“, for each minute of gossip and even of speculation – which will go on anyway – spend 10 in prayer.
These are difficult times. The devil is abroad and has great wrath. The appointment of bishops is always important and difficult.
The bigger the see, the more important the choice, as we have seen to our great consternation.
bumpus.
And he was one of the two I thought might come to Western Oregon!
Chaput will be good for the City of Brotherly Love.
Think back to the dim convention in Denver and how they all hated Chaput because he spoke out against their platform of abortion.
God bless him!
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