REPORT: Spokane’s Catholic bishop to be named new archbishop of Chicago

Fox Q13
September 20, 2014

http://q13fox.com/2014/09/19/report-spokanes-catholic-bishop-to-be-named-new-archbishop-of-chicago/

Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane

SEATTLE — The Vatican will announce Saturday the appointment of Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane as the new archbishop of Chicago, one of the top Roman Catholic posts in the United States, it was reported Friday.

The National Catholic Reporter said Cupich, 65, will succeed Cardinal Francis George, 77, who has been archbishop of Chicago since May 1997 and who is now battling cancer.

Cupich has been bishop of Spokane since September 2003. He served as bishop of Rapid City, S.D., from 1998 to 2003, and before that he was a priest with the Omaha, Neb., archdiocese.

Chicago is the third most populous Catholic diocese in the U.S. and is historically one of the most important, the National Catholic Reporter said.

The NCR said Cupich served on the U.S. bishops’ ad hoc committee on sexual abuse 2002 – 2005 during the time the bishop wrote the Dallas Charter for youth and child protection, the guidelines diocese are to us when dealing with the sexual abuse of minors by clergy.

It said he also served on the bishops’ Committee on Protection of Children and Young People in 2005 and 2006 and chaired that committee 2008- 2011