After just five years as the Catholic bishop in Harrisburg, the Rt. Rev. Kevin C. Rhoades is being transferred to the Fort Wayne-South Bend diocese.
The Fort Bend diocese is smaller than Harrisburg's geographically and in its number of Catholics, but it's home to the University of Notre Dame, widely considered the crown jewel of American Catholic education.
Rhoades, 51, was among the 75-plus U.S. bishops who condemned the university's decision to invite President Obama, who supports abortion rights, to speak at the school's commencement earlier this year -- which now-retired Fort Bend Bishop John D'Arcy skipped out of protest. Rhoades told reporters Saturday, "that's now in the past -- let's move to the future," according to the South Bend Tribune.
Catholic bishops are required to submit their resignation to the pope by age 75, and D'Arcy, 77, did so two years ago. Read more at the jump.
The South Bend paper also noted that diocese's growing Hispanic population, suggesting that might have figured into the selection of Rhoades, who speaks Spanish, among other languages. D'Arcy told reporters he had asked the Vatican to make sure his successor spoke Spanish.
Rhoades has often celebrated Mass in Spanish, even as a young priest in the mid-1980s in York at the Spanish-speaking congregation of Cristo Salvador parish -- now part of St. Mary's Church in York.
Rhoades will likely be remembered for his work in the Harrisburg diocese to build up the number of seminarians studying for the priesthood (up from a handful when he started to 27 seminarians), establishing a program for the permanent dioconate and starting a community in Harrisburg for the celebration of the Latin Mass. He often celebrated Mass at local prisons at Christmas and Easter and made a habit of regularly visiting parishes and schools around the 15-county diocese throughout the year.
Rhoades, who is president of the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, grew up in the Diocese of Harrisburg. He was born in the small town of Mahanoy City, Schuylkill County, and was raised in Lebanon. His ordaining bishop in 1983 was William Keeler, later Cardinal Keeler of Baltimore. Years later, Keeler named Rhoades to the faculty of Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg in 1995 and to the rectorship of that seminary two years later.
Rhoades, who flew to Indiana Friday for the announcement, said he had been there only once before - to attend a Penn State-Notre Dame football game three years ago.
"One of my first tasks is to get Notre Dame back on the Penn State schedule," he said, laughing.
MORE:
-- Read Rhoades' statement on his transfer.
-- Read a statement by the president of Notre Dame, the Rev. John Jenkins.
-- Also announced Saturday, Bishop Jerome Listecki of LaCrosse, Wisc., will become archbishop of Milwaukee. The Chicago native, 60, succeeds Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who was transferred to New York in February.
-- Also of note, the pope on Friday elevated two priests to the title of monsignor, a papal honor bestowed on priests for exemplary service. The priests are Revs. William King of Mechanicsburg, who is vicar general of the diocese and moderator of the curia; and James Lyons, who is pastor of Prince of Peace Parish in Steelton.
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