MASSACHUSETTS
Taunton Gazette
By Herald News Editorial Board
Posted Aug. 27, 2014 @ 6:30 pm
There are not many cities of Fall River’s size that have their own bishop and cathedral. But Fall River is the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese that serves most of southeastern Massachusetts. As such, we have been blessed to have a strong spiritual leader in our community.
For more than a decade, the Diocese of Fall River’s flock has been led by a shepherd who knows this city and region well. Since his appointment by Pope John Paul II in 2003, Bishop George W. Coleman has headed the diocese he previously served as a pastor, educator and vicar general.
Coleman has deep roots in the city and region, having been born in Fall River and raised in Somerset, as well as serving as a pastor in Fall River and on Cape Cod, and leading the Diocesan Department of Education.
Coleman took the reins of the diocese from a Catholic leader of extraordinary stature: Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, the current archbishop of Boston, who was even rumored to be a front-runner for pope last year. Coleman led the diocese in the wake of the clergy sexual abuse scandal that rocked the Roman Catholic Church and afflicted significant pain to parishioners both in the Diocese of Fall River and worldwide.
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