This morning, the Holy Father made the following appointments:

• Monsignor Mark Bartchak, Judicial Vicar of the Diocese of Erie, as bishop of the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown. He succeeds Bishop Joseph V. Adamec, whose resignation was accepted upon reaching the age limit.
• Father Christopher Coyne, priest of the Archdiocese of Boston and popular host on CatholicTV, as Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. A press conference has been schedule for 10:30 a.m. local time.

More to come in a bit.

Here are the statements from Auxiliary Bishops-elect Kennedy and Uglietto, which were made available prior to this morning’s press conference.

Bishop-elect Arthur Kennedy:

Your Eminence Cardinal Seán, Your Excellencies, my brother priests, ladies and gentlemen and invited guests, allow me to begin my few words with an expression of deep and humble gratitude to God for the gifts and graces that He has provided me from the very time of my first sense of His call to the priesthood and for the comfort and courage provided through the times of both travail and joy that have been part of the past forty-three years as a priest in the service of Christ and His Church. That the original call to be His priest has led to this moment and this call to be an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Boston brings more clearly to mind the continuing collaborative graces and responsibilities that require of me an even fuller response to imitate the love of Christ and to make known the infinite source of all gifts, namely the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit. This name we always use as we make the sign of the cross, reminding us of Christ’s cross and his love.

As previously noted this morning, Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Father Arthur L. Kennedy, Ph.D. and Father Peter J. Uglietto, S.T.D. as Auxiliary Bishops of the Archdiocese of Boston. A press conference has been scheduled for 11:00 this morning at the Boston Chancery. A live webstream will be provided on the Archdiocesan website beginning at 10:30 a.m.

Bishop-Elect Arthur Kennedy

Father Arthur Kennedy attended the Pontifical North American College in Rome and was ordained for the Archdiocese of Boston on December 17, 1966 by Bishop Francis Reh, then rector of the NAC. In 1978, Bishop-elect Kennedy received his Doctorate in Theology from Boston University.

Education has been an important part of the Bishop-elect’s ministry. Throughout his priestly service to the church, Kennedy has served on the faculty at the University of St. Thomas (St. Paul, MN), St. John Seminary, and the Angelicum (Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome). He currently serves as the Rector of St. John Seminary.

Bishop-elect Kennedy served at the headquarters for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops as the executive director for the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs. In fact, the Bishop-elect has written several articles on ecumenical affairs, more recently writing on the Muslim-Catholic dialogue.

Like myself, the Bishop-elect is a product of the schooling of the Sisters of St. Joseph, whom he says have helped and supported him along his vocational journey. Bishop-elect Kennedy will be ordained to the episcopacy and assume his role as Auxiliary Bishop in September. He will continue as the Rector of St. John Seminary for a year until Cardinal Sean O’Malley can name a replacement.

Here are the appointments from this morning:

• The Holy Father appointed Bishop Blase Cupich, current Bishop of the Diocese of Rapid City, as the sixth Bishop of the Diocese of Spokane.
• The Holy Father appointed Rev. Arthur L. Kennedy, Ph.D., current Rector of St. John’s Seminary, as Auxiliary Bishop for the Archdiocese of Boston.
• The Holy Father appointed Rev. Peter J. Uglietto, S.T.D., current Rector/President of Blessed John XXIII Seminary, as Auxiliary Bishop for the Archdiocese of Boston.
• The Holy Father appointed Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Cardinal-Archbishop of Quebec, as the Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and Chairman of the Commission for Latin America.
• The Holy Father appointed Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella as the head of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evengelization.
• The Holy Father appointed Archbishop Celestino Migliore as the Apostolic Nuncio to Poland.

This morning, Pope Benedict XVI also accepted the resignations of:

• Bishop William Skylstad, Bishop of the Diocese of Spokane.
• Bishop Peter A. Rosazza, Auxiliary of the Archdiocese of Hartford.
• Bishop Emilio S. Allué, Auxiliary of the Archdiocese of Boston.

Bishop Cupich | Diocese of Rapid City

Well folks, here’s another one for you. It is expected that, as early as tomorrow, Bishop Blase Joseph Cupich will be appointed as the sixth bishop of the Diocese of Spokane. Bishop-designate Cupich currently serves as the head of the Church in Western South Dakota (the Diocese of Rapid City), where he has served as bishop since 1998. Cupich replaces Bishop William Skylstad, who is retiring after 20 years as the head of the Spokane Church.

Bishop-designate Cupich was born in Omaha, Nebraska on March 19, 1949. He attended seminary at the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy. Upon graduating from St. Thomas, the Archdiocese of Omaha sent him to study theology at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Omaha on August 16, 1975. Bishop Cupich is also a graduate from the Catholic University of America, obtaining a Sacramental Theology degree from the university in 1979.

Since his ordination to the priesthood, Cupich has served in various capacities within the