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  Bishop Phillip Straling of Reno Announces Retirement

By Sandra Chereb
Associated Press, carried in Las Vegas Sun [Reno NV]
June 21, 2005

RENO, Nev. (AP) - Bishop Phillip Straling, who steered northern Nevada's Catholic community through a decade of growth and national abuse scandals that rocked the church, announced his retirement Tuesday, saying he no longer has the stamina to lead the Reno Diocese.

"There comes a time, I think, when the energy you once had in your younger days is no longer there," a reflective Straling said at an afternoon news conference in Reno. "I recognize that I'm tired."

Straling, who was ordained as a priest in 1959 and served as bishop for nearly 27 years, said he contemplated retirement two years ago.

He said he put it off partly because of ongoing construction projects, including the new $35 million Bishop Manogue High School and new churches or facilities in Sparks, Carson City, Dayton, Battle Mountain and Gardnerville.

The recent death of Pope John Paul II, who ordained Straling as bishop, also affected his decision.

"With his death, I saw a certain closure of my own years of service," Straling, 72, said in a letter to parishes. "With our new Pope Benedict XVI, we begin a new era, and I think, a new and blessed time for the church here in northern Nevada."

"There's just so many things on the horizon to be done," Straling said, adding that it was time for "someone else to pick up the relay race."

Plans also are pending for a new church in the fast-growing Fernley area and in south Carson City.

Word of Straling's retirement from the Reno Diocese came hours after the Vatican announced the pope had accepted his resignation as bishop.

A committee of priests will elect an administrator within eight days to oversee church operations until a new bishop is appointed, said Straling, who plans to remain in the Reno area and assist as needed.

Straling was bishop in San Bernardino, Calif., before coming to Reno in 1995, when the Diocese of Reno-Las Vegas was split in two.

Since then, he has supervised the expansion of the church's presence across the northern part of the state, from Reno and Sparks to the Utah line.

Since 1995, the Reno Diocese has grown by roughly 30,000 Catholics, to an estimated 105,000, according to church records. He also navigated the diocese's course during the height of priest abuse scandals that so far has cost the Catholic Church in the United State more than $1 billion.

"There's been some hurts and some failures," Straling said of the sex abuse scandals.

Last week, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted overwhelmingly to continue permanently barring abusive priests from church work. The discipline plan was first adopted in 2002 after mounting lawsuits were filed across the country by victims who claimed they were abused by priests.

In Reno, Monsignor Robert Bowling, pastor at St. Therese the Little Flower Church for 30 years, was accused of sexual misconduct in 11 lawsuits filed against the Archdiocese of Louisville, where he previously worked in the 1960s.

In 2003, the Louisville diocese settled those cases and more than 200 others, agreeing to pay the victims $25.7 million.

Bowling maintained his innocence and died of cancer three days after the settlement was announced.

Another Reno priest, Rev. Robert Buchanan, last year was named in a civil lawsuit alleging inappropriate behavior with a girl 31 years ago in San Diego.

Buchanan, who retired as presiding priest at Our Lady of Snows Church in Reno, has denied the allegations.

In his letter to parishioners, Straling wrote, "It is not possible in any position, including the office of bishop, to have not made mistakes or inflicted some hurts over these many years."

"For these I am truly sorry and ask forgiveness. Please continue to keep me in your prayers."