Vatican City, Oct 4, 2016 / 05:16 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis has tapped two active bishops to head new dioceses, naming Bishop Paul D. Etienne of Cheyenne as the new Archbishop of Anchorage, Alaska, and Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Raleigh as Bishop of Arlington, Virginia.
Announced in an Oct. 4 communique from the Vatican, the appointments came as the former bishops of Anchorage and Arlington go into retirement, after having reached the age limit.
Archbishop-elect Paul D. Etienne, 57, is an Indiana outdoorsman with many relatives also in the priesthood or religious life.
Born in Philadelphia in 1959, the bishop grew up as one of six children to parents who have been married more than 50 years. Two of his brothers are priests, and his sister is a religious.
He graduated from the University of St. Thomas/St. John Vianney College Seminary in St. Paul, Minn. with a degree in Business Administration before studying at the North American College in Rome and receiving a Bachelor of Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University.
Following his priestly ordination in 1992 for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, Fr. Etienne worked as an associate pastor and assistant vocation director before returning to Rome to receive his License in Spiritual Theology.
Upon his return to the U.S. in 1995, he served as the vocation director for the archdiocese, vice-rector of the Bishop Simon Brute College Seminary in Indianapolis and as a parish priest.
He also served as a member of the Council of Consultors and Council of Priests for the diocese before being appointed as Bishop of Cheyenne in 2009. No date has yet been announced for when he will take over as Archbishop of Anchorage.
Bishop Michael F. Burbidge, 59 and who until now has served as the bishop of Raleigh, North Carolina, will be present in Arlington to announce his appointment as the fourth bishop of the diocese.
Born June 16, 1957, he attended Catholic grade schools and graduated from Cardinal O'Hara High School, Springfield, PA, in 1975. He then entered St. Charles Borromeo Seminary and was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia by John Cardinal Krol in 1984.
The bishop holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy and Masters in Theology from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, as well as a Masters in Education Administration from Villanova University. He also holds a doctorate in Education from Immaculata College.
He served as a parish priest for St. Bernard Church in Philadelphia before being named to the faculties of, successively, Cardinal O'Hara High School, Archbishop Wood High School and St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, where he also served as Dean of Students until 1992.
In 1992 he was named Administrative Secretary to Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua, Archbishop of Philadelphia, a role that he held until 1999. A year earlier, he was made Honorary Prelate to Pope John Paul II, receiving the title of Monsignor. He then served as Rector of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary until 2004.
Bishop Burbidge was ordained Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia in 2002, and in 2006 was named the fifth Bishop of Raleigh. The bishop currently serves as Chair of the USCCB Committee for Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations, which he has been a member of since 2007.
He is also a member of the Administrative and Communications Committees, and is an advisor for the National Conference of Diocesan Vocation Directors.
The bishop is also a current member of the Board of Trustees for The Catholic University of America, and has recently completed a 5-year term as Co-Chair of the International Catholic-Pentecostal Dialogue, which is sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
In an initial Oct. 4 statement on his appointment as the new Bishop of Arlington, Burbidge said serving in Raleigh has been a “profound pleasure,” and that he has never forgotten the “warmth and love” he was welcomed with.
He thanked the priests, deacons, religious and lay people for their support and kindness, and voiced his certainty that he will be welcomed to Arlington with “the same joy and love” he found in his former diocese.
Article Archive
Dioceses of Anchorage, Arlington get new bishops
Related Articles • More Articles
The Augustine Institute's new facilities in Florissant, Missouri. / Credit: Boeing Company and Augustine InstituteCNA Staff, Apr 23, 2024 / 13:30 pm (CNA).The Augustine Institute, a Catholic educational and evangelization apostolate based in Denver for nearly two decades, announced on Tuesday that it will be moving its operations to a new campus in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. The institute, founded in 2005 as a Catholic graduate theology school, currently has an enrollment of 550 students. It says on its website that it exists to serve "the formation of Catholics for the new evangelization" by "equip[ping] Catholics intellectually, spiritually, and pastorally to renew the Church and transform the world for Christ."The organization announced on Tuesday that it had purchased the former Boeing Leadership Center in Florissant, Missouri, just outside of downtown St. Louis. The school will "begin transitioning its operations over the next few years," it said in ...
Over a year after the earthquake that hit Syria and Turkey in February 2023, restoration of Aleppo's Church of St. George has been completed. / Credit: Abdul Kareem DanielAleppo, Syria, Apr 23, 2024 / 14:15 pm (CNA).This year's feast of St. George was a particularly joyful one in the Syrian city of Aleppo, especially for the Melkite Greek Catholic community. The church is reopening its doors after undergoing restoration due to damage from a February 2023 earthquake. Additionally, Archbishop George Masri of the Melkite Archdiocese of Aleppo and its environs will celebrate his golden jubilee.The celebrations took place during the visit of Patriarch Joseph Absi, the current patriarch of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, who presided over the Divine Liturgy in the restored church on the evening of April 23. The evening before, there was a procession along Holy Bible Street followed by vespers.Restoration of the Church of St. George in Aleppo after the February 2023 earthquake...
Archbishop Luis Argüello and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. / Credit: Archdiocese of Valladolid; La MoncloaACI Prensa Staff, Apr 23, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).The Spanish government approved today in the Council of Ministers a plan to implement recommendations made in a report on sexual abuse within the Catholic Church. While recognizing some good points in the plan, the Spanish Bishops' Conference (known by its Spanish acronym CEE) issued a statement strongly objecting to what it called unfair treatment and discrimination against the Church by the government.Before giving details of the government's plan, the minister of the Presidency, Justice, and Relations with the Legislature, Félix Bolaños, extrapolating data from a survey commissioned by the People's Ombudsman, estimated that in Spain there are about 440,000 adults who were victims of sexual abuse as minors, representing 1.13% of the adult population in Spain."Around half of these abuses would have been committed...