This morning, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Monsignor Donald Hanchon and Father Michael Byrnes as Auxiliary Bishops for the Archdiocese of Detroit. The bishops-elect will be ordained to the episcopacy during a May 5, 2011 ordination Mass at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit.

Below is the announcement from the Archdiocese:

Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament | Detroit, Michigan

“It’s a great blessing for the archdiocese to have auxiliary bishops to lead two of the pastoral regions, as well as to perform other pastoral duties inherent in a bishop’s role,” Archbishop Vigneron said. “Certainly it’s an honor for a priest to be selected for this level of responsibility. More than an honor, it’s about new capacity for sharing Christ with others.”

Bishop-designate Donald Hanchon

Bishop-designate Hanchon, 63, was born in Jackson, attended St. Mary grade school in Wayne and Sacred Heart Seminary High School in Detroit. He attended Sacred Heart Seminary, St. John’s Provincial Seminary, University of Notre Dame, and University of Detroit, and was ordained a priest Oct. 19, 1974 at St. Mary Church in Wayne by Bishop Joseph Imesch. He has spent his priesthood serving at a number of parishes in Detroit, Monroe, Warren and Port Huron. He has been pastor of Holy Redeemer in Detroit since 1999 and in 2009 was named episcopal vicar for the archdiocese’s Central Region. He also has taught at Sacred Heart Major Seminary and has served as archdiocesan coordinator for Hispanic ministries.

“I renew my confidence in God’s grace, and humbly accede to the Holy Father’s wish to appoint me as a bishop to work under Archbishop Vigneron in the service of the people of the Archdiocese of Detroit,” said Bishop-designate Hanchon. “I promise obedience because I believe that the God who began this good work in me all those years ago will indeed bring it to fulfillment. I thank Archbishop Vigneron for his trust in me, and his joyful encouragement to serve.”

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.

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