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New bishop named for Wilmington

By Chaz Muth
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON — Pope Benedict XVI has named Baltimore Auxiliary Bishop W. Francis Malooly, 64, as bishop of Wilmington, Del. He succeeds Bishop Michael A. Saltarelli, who in January turned 75, the usual retirement age for bishops.

The pope also appointed Msgr. Herbert A. Bevard, 62, a Philadelphia pastor, as bishop of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He succeeds Bishop George V. Murry, who was named to head the Diocese of Youngstown, Ohio, in January 2007.

The appointments were announced in Washington July 7 by Msgr. Martin Krebs, charge d’affaires of the Vatican nunciature.

Bishop Malooly’s installation is scheduled for Sept. 8 and Bishop-designate Bevard’s episcopal ordination and installation is scheduled for Sept. 3. Both men are natives of Baltimore.

Bishop Malooly, the 13th auxiliary bishop to serve the Archdiocese of Baltimore, was born there Jan. 18, 1944. He studied at the now-closed St. Charles Minor Seminary in the Baltimore suburb of Catonsville and at St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore.

He was ordained to the priesthood in May 1970 by his uncle, the late Auxiliary Bishop T. Austin Murphy of Baltimore, and his episcopal ordination was March 1, 2001.

Established in 1868, the Wilmington Diocese consists of the entire state of Delaware and Maryland’s nine Eastern Shore counties. It has 216 priests, 58 parishes and 18 missions, 37 schools and a Catholic population of about 228,000, or approximately 18 percent of the total population.

“The Archdiocese of Baltimore has been enormously blessed by the priestly and episcopal ministry of Bishop Fran Malooly,” Baltimore Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien said in a prepared statement.

“His long service and friendly demeanor have endeared him to so many in our archdiocese,” he said. “News of his appointment to the see of Wilmington leaves us all with mixed emotions. Happiness for a well-earned honor bestowed on him today by our Holy Father, and sadness for the great sense of loss we will all feel by his departure.”

Bishop Saltarelli has been the leader of the Wilmington Diocese since 1995. Nationally, he has served on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Communications.

“I want to publicly acknowledge how happy I am to come to a diocese where my good friend Bishop Saltarelli has served as bishop — not because it will be easy to follow, but it will be great to be able to share with him,” Bishop Malooly said during a July 7 press conference in Wilmington.

“He’ll be here; I’ll have that great resource. There’ll be two bishops who’ll be very much active in the Diocese of Wilmington,” he said.

Contributing to this story was Joe Ryan in Wilmington.

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