Interim Leader Has Prestigious Record Archdiocese of Philadelphia Cardinal to Head Diocese until Pope Picks New Bishop, by Mark Guydish, Times-Leader, September 1, 2009

Interim Leader Has Prestigious Record
Archdiocese of Philadelphia Cardinal to Head Diocese until Pope Picks New Bishop

By Mark Guydish
Times-Leader
September 1, 2009

http://www.timesleader.com/news/Interim_leader_has_prestigious_record_09-01-2009.html

SCRANTON – With the resignation of Bishop Joseph Martino and the naming of Archdiocese of Philadelphia Cardinal Justin Rigali as Apostolic Administrator, Roman Catholics in the Diocese of Scranton saw the age of their spiritual leader jump by 11 years.

Martino, 63, resigned 12 years before the age at which the Vatican requires bishops to submit their resignations. Rigali, a Los Angeles native, is 74.

Cardinal Justin F. Rigali on Monday in Scranton.
Photo by Clark Van Orden

The move also takes the entire diocese back to its roots, at least for a few months. It was carved from the Philadelphia Diocese in March 1868 and given to Bishop William O'Hara who had 24 priests in 24 churches throughout the 8,466-acre diocese.

In a press conference announcing the change Monday, Rigali stressed his title is temporary until the pope selects a new bishop, a process with no time limit, though the cardinal said the Vatican does not like to leave a diocese without a full-time bishop, and that he hopes it will be done within six months.

Rigali also said that, due to his obligations in the Philadelphia Archdiocese, he will likely spend little time here and will not oversee sacramental duties of a bishop, most notably performing the sacrament of Confirmation on teens, a task he said will fall to retired Bishop James Timlin, who is 82, and Auxiliary Bishop John Dougherty, 77, who submitted his resignation two years ago as required but continued in his post until the pope accepted that resignation, along with Martino's.

As Martino noted when he announced his resignation Monday, the pope is not obliged to accept resignations.

Rigali did say he plans to return for the annual La Festa Italiana in Scranton over Labor Day Weekend. While he made no mention of it, later in the afternoon the Rev. David Cappelloni, Chaplain of the La Festa Italiana committee, confirmed that Rigali will celebrate his first Mass in the diocese at "La Messa Italiana" (the Italian Mass) at St. Peter's Cathedral in Scranton at 10 a.m. Sunday.

In the archdiocese, Rigali oversees 614 priests (146 of them retired), 239 deacons, 269 parishes and nearly 1.5 million Roman Catholics. The archdiocese also has 20 high schools and 186 elementary schools with total enrollment of nearly 77,000.

Martino is a graduate of one of those elementary schools, and attended a Catholic high school in Philadelphia, though it was a private school run by the Jesuits, not a diocesan school. He served as auxiliary bishop there before coming to Scranton.

As temporary head of the Diocese of Scranton, Rigali is adding about 200 more priests under his tutelage, and nearly 350,000 faithful.

According to his biography on the Archdiocese of Philadelphia Web site, Rigali received his religious training in California and was ordained a priest in Los Angeles in 1961, heading to Rome six months later for further education. He earned a doctorate in Canon Law in 1964. Two years later he was assigned to the Apostolic Nunciature, or papal embassy, in Madagascar.

He held that post until 1970, when he became English language translator for Pope Paul VI in the Vatican Secretariat of State. He held several positions with the Vatican through 1994, when he was named Archbishop of St. Louis.

He was appointed as Archbishop of Philadelphia in July 2003 and installed on Oct. 7. Two weeks later he was officially made a cardinal.

Rigali took over in Philadelphia just as a grand jury investigation of sexual misconduct by priests and the archdiocese handling of those priests came to a head. The grand jury issued a stinging report that looked at incidents and allegations going back more than a decade.

The report claimed "dozens of priests abused hundreds of children," and that Rigali's predecessors, cardinals Anthony Bevilacqua and John Krol, had "excused and enabled the abuse." The diocese acknowledged abuses had occurred but rigorously rebutted claims of chronic cover-up, calling the report "reckless rhetoric, dispensed from any burden of proof."

Rigali still holds positions with numerous Catholic organizations, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the board of trustees of The Catholic University of America and the Board of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. He has been an outspoken opponent of abortion and gay marriage.