WASHINGTON, D.C., OCT. 18, 2004 (Zenit.org).- John Paul II has appointed Monsignor Kevin Rhoades, rector of Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, as bishop of Harrisburg, in Pennsylvania.
He succeeds Bishop Nicholas Dattilo, who died in March.
The Pope, meanwhile, accepted the resignation of Bishop James Griffin, 70, of Columbus and named Auxiliary Bishop Frederick Campbell of St. Paul and Minneapolis as his successor.
The Holy Father accepted the resignation of Bishop Lawrence McNamara, 76, of Grand Island, Nebraska, and appointed Monsignor William Dendinger, pastor of St. Stephen the Martyr Church, Omaha, to succeed him.
Kevin Carl Rhoades was born on Nov. 26, 1957, in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania.
Upon graduation from St. Mary’s College, Emmitsburg, he applied to the Diocese of Harrisburg for enrollment in the program of priestly formation. He studied at St. Charles Seminary, near Philadelphia, and the Gregorian University, Rome, and was ordained July 9, 1983. He became rector of Mount St. Mary’s in 1997.
Frederick Campbell was born Aug. 5, 1943, in Elmira, New York. He studied at St. Paul’s Seminary and Ohio State University and was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis on May 31, 1980. He was named auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese on March 2, 1999.
William Dendinger was born May 20, 1939, in Omaha. Both his parents died in a car accident when he was a child. Bishop-designate Dendinger received a bachelor’s degree at Conception College, Missouri, in 1961. He was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Omaha on May 29, 1965.
Bishop-designate Dendinger is a major general and former chaplain in the U.S. Air Force. As chief of chaplains, he was head of almost 1,000 Air Force chaplains of different religious affiliations.