AmericanPapist Comments
God bless him.
IIRC, and I may be mistaken... a metropolitan archdiocese is generally created to be the head of a province. In other words, it serves a geographic function. Whenever possible, these are located in large urban centers (Chicago, Denver, St. Louis), for obvious reasons.
An archdiocese doesn't have to be metropolitan, but it usually is (I think all the American ones are).
Of course, there are certainly readers qualified to correct me.
Just as an aside, perhaps someone can help me out: why exactly is a diocese with less than 70k Catholics an archdiocese? No offense to the fine people of Mobile, but I just wonder how that works.
A net search turned this up on the difference in general:
http://www.catholicherald.com/sa...ws/
ws990819.htm
As for a Bishop overseeing multiple dioceses, I recall a similar situation that existed for about one year with Detroit & Grand Rapids. Cardinal Maida was appointed the apostolic administrator for GR after the death of Bishop Britt. Ultimately, another Detroit auxiliary was appointed to GR, Bishop Hurley.
I liked seeing the old term, "consecrated bishop" employed rather than the word "ordained bishop" which is more commonly utilized today. He sounds like a great bishop. Tom
"An archdiocese doesn't have to be metropolitan, but it usually is (I think all the American ones are)."
Correct, except there is one archdiocese in America that is not a metropolitan, and that's the Military Services. Archbishop Broglio won't be getting a pallium in June.
A couple other dioceses that have bishops from other places overseeing them that I can think of off the top of my head are Gallup (Olmsted of Phoenix filling in for Pelotte, which I find curious that Sheehan isn't in charge instead) and Green Bay (Dolan is administrator during its vacancy).
He is only Apostolic Administrator (not Bishop) of Biloxi now, until a new Bishop is named. This is not uncommon. It is not the same as a Bishop being the ordinary of two dioceses at the same time, which used to be not uncommon in the past, but is now very rare (I think there is, or was until recently, a case in Spain).
I'm suspicious of the population numbers quoted - the Mobile area is only 4% Catholic? I know it is the Deep South but that still seems quite low.
If the figures of 67,351 Catholics and 127 priests are correct, then Mobile has a ratio of 1 priest for every 530 Catholics. Again, hard to believe.
Mobile used to be the only Diocese (Archdiocese)in Alabama but in the Late 70's it was split into 2 Diocese (The Archdiocese of Mobile and the Diocese of Birmingham). I am just guessing but I do not think they down grade the archdioceses.
Abp Dolan of Milwaukee (the Metropolitan of Wisconsin) is also serving as the Apos.Admin. of Green Bay Diocese. Has been doing so for about 6 months.
He did NOT state that this was 'Rome's request,' but ...is there another reason? (Besides the possibility of Packers tix...)
Bishop Samuel Aquila of Fargo administered the Diocese of Sioux Falls for, I think, about 18 months, until a new bishop was appointed. I'm hoping that this means Rome is taking their time to check out candidates, rather than taking the recommendations from cronies in the American hierarchy at face value. After the two consecutive crash-and-burn appointments in Palm Beach, where the crony system in the U.S. failed to inform Rome that LAWSUITS had already alleged sexual abuse against the candidate(s), and the appointment of Donald "No-Canon-915" Wuerl to Washington, they have reason to take their time.
Once a diocese becomes vacant (by the death of the incumbent, his accepted retirement, or his transfer) one of three possibilities happens:
1) if there is a coadjutor, he immediately assumes the governance of the diocese.
2) if there is no coadjutor, the college of consultors (a group of priests from the presbyteral council) meets within eight days to elect a diocesan administrator
3) or, the Holy Father can appoint an apostolic administrator.
The administrator, whether elected by the consultors or appointed by the Holy Father must be a priest (or bishop) over the age of 35 and "outstanding in doctrine and prudence" (c. 425.2). (N.B., since he is the Supreme Legislator, and this is disciplinary law, the Pope could dispense from these requirements)
It's not uncommon, especially if the dioceses in question are small or close together, for a neighboring bishop to be appointed or elected as administrator.
All this fun can be explored further in canons 412-430 in the Latin Code
As to Mobile being an archdiocese, some years ago it was decided, as much as possible, to make each civil state into an ecclesiastical province and to make certain that no diocese crosses state boundaries (afaik, Gallup is the only diocese that is in two states, though there are still some provinces that cover multiple states: St. Paul/Mpls, San Francisco, Portland...). If you want my opinion, this has not been a good thing, but that's just my opinion...
Oh and yes, the Military Archdiocese is the only US Archdiocese that is not a metropolitan see. In Europe this is more common.
When we covered this in canon law school (in Canada), our (Quebecois) professor used the Military Archdiocese as an example and asked, professorially, "Does the US Military Archdiocese have any suffragans?" One witty and wicked student piped up and said, "Yes, the Canadian Military Diocese."
4% Catholic in Mobile seems low to me, too. My parents live there--it seems like a Catholic hotspot in the deep south.
Also, remember that Biloxi was well nigh destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. I know for a fact that many parishes and Catholic schools--not to mention the people who live there!--are still reeling and recovering financially, structurally, emotionally. Maybe that's a good reason to keep a popular bishop in place for a while longer.
Hello. I just happened to run across this blog post while looking for info on our new Abp. Rodi, and thought I would clear up a couple of questions raised.
Yes, Mobile proper has a Catholic population of much greater than 4%. I believe I've seen it given as something more like 20-25%. Mobile is a bit similar to New Orleans in history and character and very unlike the rest of Alabama. The 4% is probably accurate across the archiocese as a whole, which is quite large geographically, extending up to (and including) the city of Montgomery. Most of this area is pretty sparsely populated.
Also--I'm not knowledgeable enough about church governance to be sure exactly what this means, but another reason for the "arch" is that the dioceses of Biloxi, Jackson (MS), and Birmingham (AL) are "suffragan" to this one. That includes all of Alabama and I think all of Mississippi.
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