FLORIDA
Tampa Bay Times
WAVENEY ANN MOORE, TIMES STAFF WRITER
ST. PETERSBURG — Tampa Bay’s almost half-million Roman Catholics have a new leader.
Bishop Gregory L. Parkes, 52, head of the Pensacola-Tallahassee Diocese, and a former Tampa banker, will succeed Bishop Robert N. Lynch, who has led the Diocese of St. Petersburg for almost 21 years.
Parkes will be installed the fifth bishop of the diocese, which serves Catholics in Pinellas, Hillsborough, Hernando, Citrus and Pasco counties, on Jan. 4 at the Cathedral of St. Jude the Apostle.
The official announcement of Parkes’ appointment came early Monday, but the new St. Petersburg bishop said he had been told by Pope Francis’ representative in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 12.
Parkes, who has been a bishop for only four and a half years, said he was attending a fall meeting of American Catholic bishops in Baltimore when he heard the news. He said he immediately went to pray in the chapel set up for the group, thanking God for his goodness and asking for his help. He said he has always trusted that when God calls, he provides what is needed to fulfill his will.
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