AUXILIARY BISHOPS

NAMED TO NEW POSTS

            Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio has assigned new responsibilities to the four auxiliary bishops of the Diocese, as indicated in a list of official diocesan appointments issued this week by the Office for Clergy Personnel.

            To the position of Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia, the Bishop has appointed Auxiliary Bishop Frank J. Caggiano. He will succeed Msgr. Otto L. Garcia, who has served in those capacities since l995 and also held the post of Secretary for Communications.

            Bishop DiMarzio said Msgr. Garcia, a respected canon lawyer, has made “an enormous contribution” to the Diocese during 28 years in diocesan administration.

            “I am personally grateful for his insights and assistance during the three years that we have ministered together,” the Bishop said.

            Msgr. Garcia will leave the Chancery Office to become the pastor of St. Joan of Arc parish in Jackson Heights, effective Feb. 16.  In addition to his new role, Bishop Caggiano will continue as Vicar for Evangelization and Pastoral Life.

            Auxiliary Bishops Guy Sansaricq and Octavio Cisneros have been named respectively the Regional Bishops for Brooklyn and Queens, reflecting a change from past years when a regional bishop served one of four vicariates rather than a borough.

The auxiliary bishops will have two additional duties. Bishop Sansaricq, a native of Haiti, will serve as Episcopal Vicar for Black Catholic Concerns and Cuban-born Bishop Cisneros will become Episcopal Vicar for Hispanic Concerns.

            Bishops Sansaricq and Cisneros will also serve as pastors, the former at St. Gregory the Great parish in Crown Heights and the latter at Holy Child Jesus parish in Richmond Hill.

            Auxiliary Bishop Ignatius A. Catanello, who serves as Vicar for Clergy, Consecrated Life and Apostolic Organizations, has been appointed pastor of Holy Family parish in Flushing.

            Bishop Cisneros, the rector of Cathedral Residence of the Immaculate Conception in Douglaston, will be succeeded there by Msgr. Robert J. Thelen , who will leave the pastorate of Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary parish in Ozone Park and, as a former faculty member at the Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington, will resume ministry among men discerning a vocation to the priesthood.

            Succeeding Msgr. Thelen as pastor of the Ozone Park parish will be Father Gregory C. Wielunski, who will continue as the Judicial Vicar at the diocesan Tribunal.

            Bishop DiMarzio has also named Father Kieran E. Harrington to the new position of Vicar for Communications. He will continue to serve as the director of the Office of Legislative Affairs.

            The Bishop has appointed Father Frank Tumino and Father Vito Buonanno as director and associate director respectively of the diocesan Office for Liturgy, which is located at the Immaculate Conception Center in Douglaston.

                                                            * * * * *   

12/12/06