VATICAN APPOINTMENT - Msgr. Frank J. Dewane as coadjutor of Venice (FL)

Vatican ^ | April 25, 2006

[NYer]

VATICAN CITY, APR 25, 2006 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed:

- Bishop Casimiro Lopez Llorente of Zamora, Spain, as bishop of Segorbe- Castellon de la Plana (area 4,380, population 449,043, Catholics 419,701, priests 282, permanent deacons 4, religious 513), Spain.

- Msgr. Frank J. Dewane of the clergy of the diocese of Green Bay, U.S.A., under-secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, as coadjutor of Venice (area 22,685, population 1,766,651, Catholics 218,173, priests 239, permanent deacons 75, religious 202), U.S.A. The bishop-elect was born in Green Bay in 1950 and ordained a priest in 1988.

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From Rocco Palmo

Happy St. Mark's Day

You've got to love the Vatican humor of it: on the patronal feast of the Canal City, Venice got a new bishop.

Venice, Florida, that is.... Where gondolas are sight unseen.

Msgr. Frank Dewane, a priest of Green Bay serving as under-secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, was named coadjutor of the one diocese in the world so eminent it encompasses both Venice and Naples.

Forgive the Italians if they seem confused.

Dewane, 56, one of those cherished "late vocations" who was ordained at 38, is an American University grad who got his Master's in international relations there. After ordination and seven years at home, he was sent on to the Holy See's mission to the UN in New York, where the then-Permanent Observer was Archbishop (now Cardinal) Renato Martino.

From the UN, Bishop-elect Dewane went back to Rome, where he had completed his STB and JCL a decade earlier. Three years at Cor Unum and in 2002 he was elevated to superior rank at Iustitia et Pax, where the then-new President was Archbishop (now Cardinal) Renato Martino.

Anyone see a trend here?

The local press pulled up this nugget...

Before becoming a priest in 1988, Dewane worked for a Pepsico subsidiary in New York and for NBC in Moscow.

...and they're making a lot about his expertise on immigration issues:

"He spoke in terms of immigration reform that has been such a big issue at this point in time in our country and the need to respect the human dignity of everyone," said Peter Arroyo, head of Catholic Charities for the diocese.

"It's good that he's been involved in those issues because he's going to be confronting them when he's here," Arroyo said. "We've got more immigrants here than most of the dioceses in the state of Florida put together." Dewane's interest in social issues goes beyond immigration, however.

"He spoke to the challenge that faces the family and the disintegration of the family," Arroyo said.

[TradicalRC]

Why wasn't immigration such a big issue when the Clinton administration went after Elian Gonzales?

[livius]

This man sounds like a first-class leftist, but he may turn out to be orthodox theologically and have to drop back a bit on his politics. Our bishop here did; he realized that the Faith was more important than certain attitudes he brought with him, and I give him enormous credit for all he has done. Sometimes consecration and the new responsibilities do change a person.

However, I want to see somebody replace the odious Bp. Lynch of St. Petersburg. I can't believe the man is still in place. I think the fact that JPII was also dying at that time distracted people in Rome from what was going on with Terri Schiavo, but Lynch has been bad on so many levels - and was even before that - that I don't know why he is still a bishop. He was moved there after he had ruined one diocese (actually, maybe it was Venice?) and had a sexual harrassment suit (settled out of court) against him by a male staffer, was very involved in no-bid contract financial shenanigans (and probably only skated because of favoritism on the part of a judge), and has done nothing but stifle orthodoxy in his diocese, doing everything from being out of the country when Terri was killed - btw, a bishop is NOT supposed to be away from his diocese at Easter - to stopping Adoration in his diocese. Why is he still there?

[Maeve]

The bishop-elect has been very close to the Roman reformulations on the issues of Justice and Peace as a counter to the Liberationists. While he may seem left of darkness, he isn't at all.

Not the best appointment by any stretch of the imagination, but he is not the egregious Rembert Weakland or the devil's own in St. Pete.

I remain hopeful because he has a clear Roman perspective rather than an Americanist view of the Church.

[NYer]

Time will tell, dear friend. We must all remember him in our prayers.

[livius]

If I am correct, this would be the second appointment of the new nuncio (whose name I don't recall - I think he's Italian, if that helps :-)). The first was the new bishop of Cleveland, also apparently a somewhat ambiguous appointment.

[Notwithstanding]

This is the Ave Maria, Florida diocese, home of Father Fessio's new university. Fessio is very close to the pope - did his doctoral work under him and he has been the exclusive publisher of all of Ratzinger's English-language books. I do not think the pope would send a leftist to that diocese, knowing the tensions that might cause.

[dangus]

The interesting thing to note, then, is this: BOTH episcopal appointments of the new nuncio effectively ended the term of a bishop BEFORE retirement age.

[dangus]

Alternatively, the appointment could be one of placing an expert persuader in hopes of wedding Fessio's "autheticism" (Yeah, I just invented that word; got a problem with that?) with "international justice and peace."

[dangus]

... not that I don't take a little comfort in reading your post.

[livius]

Interesting observation. Now if only they would offer "early retirement" to the awful Lynch of St. Pete's (I don't think he's retirement age, either). Still, it is encouraging that some action is quietly being taken; Pilla was a real scandal, and while I know nothing about the former bishop of Venice, he must not have been anybody the Pope wanted to keep around, either.

[livius]

That's true. I hadn't considered the fact that Ave Maria is in the Venice diocese.

Fr. Fessio has already had to flee one diocese - when USF changed presidents, they immediately shut down his Institute and made him persona non grata. Then Levada (alas) terminated the Latin Mass at St. Ignatius.

It doesn't seem likely that the Pope would set him up for something like this again!