On Jan. 14, Pope Benedict XVI appointed two U.S. priests to receive
consecration as bishops for the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown in
Pennsylvania, and the Archdiocese of Indianapolis in Indiana.
Altoona-Johnstown's new bishop will be Msgr. Mark L. Bartchak,
previously a diocesan priest and judicial vicar in the Diocese of Erie,
Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania bishop-elect will replace retiring Bishop
Joseph V. Adamec, who submitted his resignation to Pope Benedict in
August of 2010 upon reaching his 75th birthday.
Bishop Adamec has played a role in the Church's life both locally and
internationally, in five decades as a priest and 23 years as a bishop.
He was honored by Pope John Paul II for his work on behalf of the Church
in Eastern Europe –particularly his family's home country of Slovakia–
during the 1980s.
His successor, Bishop-elect Bartchak, 55, is a past president of the
Canon Law Society of America.
His episcopal consecration will take place
on April 19.
Meanwhile, the Archdiocese of Indianapolis will receive its first
auxiliary bishop in just over 75 years, with the episcopal consecration
of Fr. Christopher J. Coyne, currently a pastor in the Archdiocese of
Boston.
Fr. Coyne, 52, served as a media spokesman for the archdiocese during
a difficult period that included revelations of sexual abuse by clergy
as well as parish closings.
He became the pastor of St. Margaret Mary
parish in Westwood, Massachusetts in 2006.
The auxiliary bishop-elect will receive his episcopal consecration in Indianapolis on March 2.
SIC: CNA/INT'L