« Best-laid plans | Main | Holy Whapping Television Network »
January 30, 2007
New bishop for Youngstown
The present bishop of St. Thomas, Virgin Islands (pdf)
Bishop Murry was born in Camden, New Jersey, in 1948. After graduating from Catholic elementary and high school, he attended St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia and St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore. In 1972 he entered the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and was ordained to the priesthood in 1979. Bishop Murry holds a M.Div. degree from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, California, as well as an M. Phil. and Ph.D. in American Cultural History from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
Bishop Murry has served as a professor of American Cultural History at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., President of Archbishop Carroll High School in Washington, D.C., and Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of Detroit. In 1995 Pope John Paul II appointed him Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago. In May of 1998 Pope John Paul II appointed him Coadjutor Bishop of St.Thomas in the Virgin Islands and on June 30, 1999, appointed him bishop of the diocese.
Posted by Amy Welborn | Permalink
Comments
If anyone knows anything about the new Bishop of Youngstown I would like to hear about him.
Posted by: Jack at Jan 30, 2007 11:15:54 AM
Plaintive cry!
Why do they keep promoting Bishops from current dioceses to new dioceses, leaving them with the same sized backlog as before?
Wouldn't it make more sense to fill some of those two year old vacancies with new Bishops?
Posted by: Ray from MN at Jan 30, 2007 12:35:28 PM
Entered the Jesuits in '72? Not a great bit on any CV, generally speaking, but I trust PP. Benedict XVI knows that he's doing.
Posted by: ContraMundum at Jan 30, 2007 12:48:26 PM
Jesuit? Berkely? Georgetown?
Lets hope for the best!
Posted by: Ave Maria! at Jan 30, 2007 2:30:44 PM
With a name like that, he must be good.
Posted by: John Murray at Jan 30, 2007 3:35:03 PM
(My apologies if this get posted twice.)
When I lived in NE Ohio, I used to attend Queen of the Holy Rosary parish in the Youngstown diocese, a traditional parish staffed by the Fraternity of St. Peter. While I was there, the parish was recognized by Bishop Tobin as a fully legitimate parish of the diocese of Youngstown, with permission to have Mass and all the sacraments in the traditional rite exclusively. Bishop Tobin even visited the parish several times to administer Confirmation in the old rite.
I hope that Bishop Murry has the good sense to leave this parish alone and let it continue its mission.
Posted by: David J. White at Jan 30, 2007 4:08:08 PM
He was on the Board of Saint Mary in Maryland =) That is a good sign!
Posted by: Adam at Jan 30, 2007 4:32:27 PM
Here we go again. Another complete outsider. He'll have to spend his first year studying the road map. (Unless the only long-distance calls he makes are to Rome ...)
However, in fairness, the long delay suggests some trouble in finding the right person who is able to take the job -- and hasn't it been almost two years since the post became vacant? This may be the best resolution here.
Posted by: RP Burke at Jan 30, 2007 9:02:51 PM
What I find amusing is that the US Virgin Islands are a diocese of the DC archdiocese.
Posted by: Maureen at Jan 30, 2007 9:33:55 PM
Bp Murray is a good man, but anyone who has been to both Youngstown and the US VI and compared the two- just weather wise if nothing else- LOL- this IS NOT A STEP UP in the episcopal world. Youngstown OH is one of the last destinations most people would want to go to, unless you have some family connections there! What did he do wrong to get this appointment?
Posted by: padrechillin at Jan 31, 2007 1:06:22 PM
Hmmmm? Dear padrechillin,
Seems that you know Bishop Murry quite well! LOL (By the way, his last name isn't Murray as you spelled it.) Apparently. you know Youngstown quite well too; although, I'd disagree that it's one of the last places one would want to go. If you'd like, I could list some of the many positive aspects of life here. Yes, as most other places we have our problems. In our case it's the old story of the Rust Belt. However, many of us like the four seasons and even if you consider the episcopy in terms of corporate advancement, our previous bishop became the the head of the most Catholic diocese in the USA.
Ciao from our fair city, Vito
P.S. Do you have relatives here?
Posted by: Vito at Jan 31, 2007 5:55:50 PM
