HARTFORD (CT)
The Hartford Courant
By DANIELA ALTIMARI, altimari@courant.com
The Hartford Courant
10:06 p.m. EDT, October 29, 2013
BLOOMFIELD — A decade ago in his first year as bishop of Toledo, Ohio, Leonard P. Blair faced a number of flashpoints: priest sex abuse scandals, parish mergers and closings and the arrest of one of the diocese’s priests in the murder of a nun decades earlier.
But Blair, appointed Tuesday as the fifth archbishop of Hartford, said the best way for the Catholic Church to heal from the “very sad, tragic things that have happened in recent years” is to be faithful to its mission, stay close to Christ and address people’s material and spiritual needs.
“I am very struck by Pope Francis’ image of the church being a field hospital for the wounded in today’s world,” Blair said. “There are so many people that are hurting, spiritually as well as materially.”
The archbishop-designate joined Hartford church officials at a mid-morning press conference at St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield, about three hours after the Vatican formally announced his appointment to lead the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford. He was introduced by the man he will succeed, Archbishop Henry J. Mansell, who, at 76, has passed the retirement age for archbishops.
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