News kindly passed on by a reader who found this on today's Daily Bulletin of the Vatican Press Office. [My translation]
Nomination of the Auxiliary Bishop of Birmingham
The Pope has nominated as auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Brmingham (England) His Excellency William Kenney CP, titular Bishop of Midica
Mgr William Kenney, C.P.
Mgr William Kenney was born at Newcastle upon Tyne (UK) on 7 May 1946. He completed his studies in the minor seminary of the Passionists in England and then in the Pontifical Athenaeum of the Jesuits at Heythrop, obtaining a Licence in Theology.
After his religious profession in 1963, he was ordained priest on 29 June 1969. The following year, he was sent to Sweden for studies in religious sociology. He remained in Sweden and was appointed Parish Priest of Växjö and Professor of Religious Sociology at the University of Gothenberg.
On 13 May 1987, he was elected titular Bishop of Midica and Auxiliary of Stockholm, receiving episcopal consecration on 24 August. He has also held until now the office of Secretary of the Nordic Episcopal Conference.
7 comments:
I understand that Bishop Kenney is a 'good' man but just wonder how unusual is it for an auxiliary bishop to be transferred to another auxiliary post within the territory of a bishop's conference, let alone across international borders?
According to the Stockholm diocese's web-site, Bishop Kenney will be taking on responsibility for Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Coventry. Wonder how he feels about being 'sent to Coventry'!
This is being discussed over at Bettnet.com.
Isn't this move weird? Auxilary to auxilary? Any thoughts?
I wonder what it says about the English secular clergy (present excellent company excepted) that a bishop is found from Scandinavia? Sorry, that's me being cynical.
On another tack, there's something funny going on in Sweden. I keep reading all this stuff about a revival of solid Catholic life, and - one of the signs of it - a friend of mine there is shortly to enter a monastery. If it's all true, yayness!
Well, we are still looking for a successor to Cardinal Cormac Murphy. I wonder why he is staying in office for 'a while longer' (Catholic Press last week). Makes one think.
Following the bettnet.com article is the following:
A financial accounting in England and Wales
While diocesan finances and bankruptcies are big news in the US, the problems apparently pale in comparison to what’s going on in England and Wales. The Vatican has demanded a full financial accounting for all the dioceses in those countries after a bishop was found to have let the diocese spend money that belonged to parishes.
The Vatican request came several months after Bishop Patrick O’Donoghue of Lancaster revealed that his diocese was deeply in debt. In a February 2006 statement, the bishop explained that he had realized that diocesan administrators were using funds that had been designated for parishes, leaving the diocese with nearly $19 million in debts. “What is even more frustrating,” the bishop had announced, “is that it is highly unlikely that the central diocesan administration will ever be able to pay them back in full.”
According to other sources, the money went toward out-of-the-ordinary projects like an interfaith center.
Canon law defines parishes as juridic persons, i.e. individuals under the law with rights and obligations and not merely subdivisions of dioceses. A diocese cannot simply seize and use the assets of the parish as it wishes.
What’s interesting is that the Vatican response has been to demand an accounting of every diocese. Why? What leads them to believe that the problem is not an isolated one?Is there something in the legal structuring of the dioceses under British law that makes them susceptible? Did the bishops’ conference issue erroneous guidance in this matter? This will be well worth keeping an eye on.
Many thanks, Flabellum. I'm in Bath at the moment but will follow this up with a post soon.
Dioceses in England and Wales are registered charities under civil law. Claims for "Gift Aid" are made by the Diocese. However, of course, under canon law, the property of the parish belongs to the parish.
As I understand it, the lay accountants in Lancaster Diocese did not seem to understand that distinction and spent money that had been loaned by parishes on Diocesan projects.
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