Bishop Barres Leaving Allentown Diocese for Long Island

By Jim Deegan
Lehigh Valley Live
December 9, 2016

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/12/bishop_barres_leaving_allentow.html

Diocese of Allentown Bishop John Barres speaks Aug. 11, 2015, at the diocese's chancery office in Allentown about Pope Francis' September 2015 to the United States. Barres will be involved with the papal visit, celebrating Mass with the pope in Washington, D.C., and in Philadelphia. (Sue Beyer | For lehighvalleylive.com)

Bishop John Barres is leaving the Diocese of Allentown.

Barres, the leader of Catholics in a five-county region that includes the Lehigh Valley, has been appointed by Pope Francis as bishop of Rockville Centre, N.Y. The diocese consists of Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, and its 1.5 million Catholics make it the sixth-largest diocese by population in the nation.

Barres, 56, becomes the first Allentown bishop transferred to another diocese in the diocese's 55-year history. He has headed Allentown for more than seven years.

Barres became bishop here in July 2009.

"I must...thank the priests and the entire people of God of the Diocese of Allentown, where I have had the great blessing of serving as bishop for the last seven-and-a-half years," he said in a statement.

"You will all always be in my heart, my memories, my prayers and my Masses as I remember our days of 'holiness and mission' together."

The announcement was made early Friday by the Papal Nuncio to the United States Archbishop Christophe Pierre and released in a statement by the Diocese of Allentown.

Barres will succeed Bishop William Murphy, 76, who has led the Rockville Centre Diocese since 2001.

Murphy turned 75 in May 2015 and submitted his letter of resignation at that time, as required by church law. Pope Francis accepted Murphy's resignation Friday.

Barres will be introduced to his new diocese Friday morning when he concelebrates morning Mass with Bishop Murphy at the Cathedral of St. Agnes in Rockville Centre. The Mass will be streamed at 8:30 a.m. on telecaretv.org.

At 10:30 a.m., the bishops will appear jointly on Telecare's news program "Everyday Faith Live," also live streamed at telecaretv.org.

Rockville Centre has 291 active priests in 133 parishes, Allentown diocese spokesman Matt Kerr said. Allentown's diocese administers to about 265,000 Catholics in Northampton, Lehigh, Berks, Carbon and Schuylkill counties.

Barres will be installed as bishop of Rockville Centre on Jan. 31. Until that date, he will serve as the diocesan administrator for Allentown.

Upon his installation, the Diocese of Allentown's College of Consultors, a group of 10 senior priests, will elect an administrator who will serve until a new bishop is installed.

Barres was 48 and the chancellor of the Wilmington, Del., diocese for nine years when he was named to succeed Allentown Bishop Edward P. Cullen.

His tenure has been marked by a focus on young Catholics and a period of turbulence.

Several churches have been merged and closed, and Allentown is one of six Pennsylvania dioceses being investigated by the state attorney general's office for their handling of clergy sex abuse allegations.

Barres, who was born in Larchmont, N.Y., has roots in Bethlehem. His father was raised there and was a protestant pastor who converted to Catholicism.

He played point guard for three years on the junior varsity basketball team at Princeton University, where Bethlehem native Pete Carril coached.

Barres holds a bachelor's degree from Princeton, an MBA from New York University and theological degrees from Catholic University of America.

Jim Deegan may be reached at jdeegan@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @jim_deegan. Find lehighvalleylive on Facebook.