21 Consultors Appointed to the Congregation for Clergy

VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 4, 2003 (Zenit.org).- John Paul II named 21 consultors for the Vatican Congregation for Clergy, including two U.S. bishops and a top American theologian.

The new American episcopal consultors are Archbishop Daniel Buechlein of Indianapolis, Indiana, and Bishop Raymond Burke of La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Two other new episcopal consultors are Archbishop Flavio Calle Zapata of Ibague, Colombia, and Irish Bishop Seamus Hegarty of Derry. All the appointments were announced today.

Also among the new consultors are priests who belong to new ecclesial charisms such as Monsignor Massimo Camisasca, superior and founder of the Priestly Fraternity of the St. Charles Borromeo Missionaries, whose roots are linked to the Communion and Liberation movement; Monsignor Fernando Ocariz, vicar general of the Opus Dei Personal Prelature; and Father Luis Garza Medina, vicar general of the Legionaries of Christ.

The rest of the new consultors are formators in seminaries or professors of pontifical universities.

Among them are Salesian Father Vittorio Gambino, professor at the Institute of Permanent Formation of the Salesian Pontifical University of Rome; Franciscan Father Nikolaus Schöch, vice rector of the Antonianum Athenaeum in Rome; and William E. May, professor at the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family in Washington, D.C.

According to the apostolic constitution "Pastor Bonus," the Congregation for Clergy has three specific roles.

First, it suggests and promotes initiatives for the holiness and intellectual and pastoral renewal of the clergy (diocesan priests and deacons), and for their permanent formation.

It is also responsible for the religious formation of the faithful of all ages (catechesis); as well as for the preservation and administration of the Church's temporal assets, in particular the remuneration and health care of the clergy.