CINCINNATI, Ohio, DEC. 21, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI accepted the resignation of Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk of Cincinnati, upon having reached the age limit. Coadjutor Archbishop Dennis Schnurr will assume leadership of the archdiocese.
Archbishop Pilarczyk, who turned 75 in August, has been the archbishop of Cincinnati for 27 years.
A native of Dayton, Ohio, Daniel Pilarczyk was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in 1959, and named auxiliary bishop of the same diocese in 1974.
In 1982, he was named the archbishop of Cincinnati. He served as president of the U.S. episcopal conference from 1989 to 1992.
Archbishop Dennis Schnurr, 61, is a native of Sheldon, Iowa. He studied to be a canon lawyer in Rome, and was ordained in 1974 as a priest of the Diocese of Sioux City, Iowa.
Father Schnurr served as the national executive director of the 1993 World Youth Day in Denver, and from 1995-2001 served as general secretary of the U.S. bishops’ conference.
He was appointed bishop of Duluth in 2001, and named the coadjutor archbishop of Cincinnati in 2008.
The Archdiocese of Cincinnati is the 26th largest diocese in the United States, with almost 500,000 Catholics and 220 parishes.
Saskatoon
The Pontiff named Monsigner Donald Bolen, 48, vicar general of the Archdiocese of Regina, Canada, as bishop of Saskatoon. Both dioceses are located in the Canadian territory Saskatchewan.
Donald Bolen was born in Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan, in 1961 and ordained a priest in 1991.<br>
The Diocese of Saskatoon covers an area of 17,304 square miles, with a population of 292,000. The diocese is composed of 88,900 Catholics, 88 priests, 3 permanent deacons, and 225 religious.
Nakuru
On Saturday, Benedict XVI named Father Maurice Muhatia Makumba, 41, of the clergy of the Diocese of Kakamega, Kenya, and rector and professor of the major national seminary of St. Thomas Aquinas in Nairobi, as bishop of the Diocese of Nakuru.
Maurice Muhatia Makumba was born in Lirhanda, Kenya, in 1968 and ordained a priest in 1994.
The Diocese of Nakuru covers an area of 7,010 square miles, and has a population of 1,571,097, of which some 224,653 are Catholics. The diocese counts on 134 priests and 202 religious.
