PENNSYLVANIA
Reading Eagle
Pope Francis has appointed Diocese of Allentown Bishop John O. Barres as the next bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, N.Y., which consists of Nassau and Suffolk Counties on Long Island, church officials announced this morning.
The Allentown diocese consists of Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton and Schuylkill counties.
Barres, 56, is the first Bishop in the Allentown diocese’s 55 year history to be transferred to another diocese.
The Rockville Centre Diocese, established in 1957, is the sixth largest diocese by Catholic population in the United States. It serves 1.5 million people with 291 active priests in 133 parishes.
Barres has led the Allentown diocese since July 2009. In a statement on his new appointment, he said: “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. 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.”
Bishop Barres will take his new post on Jan. 31. Until then he will serve as administrator for the Diocese of 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.
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