New Bishops for Atlanta and Wheeling

From the Vatican Information Service:



- Appointed Bishop Wilton Daniel Gregory of Belleville, U.S.A., as metropolitan archbishop of Atlanta (area 55,521, population 5,752,854, Catholics 367,472, priests 237, permanent deacons 50, religious 179), U.S.A. The archbishop-elect was born in Chicago, U.S.A., in 1947 and was ordained a priest in 1973. He succeeds Archbishop John Francis Donoghue whose resignation the Holy Father accepted upon having reached the age limit.



- Appointed Msgr. Michael J. Bransfield, rector of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C., as bishop of Wheeling-Charleston (area 62,866, population 1,801,916, Catholics 83,325, priests 170, permanent deacons 32, religious 334), U.S.A. The bishop-elect was born in 1943 in Philadelphia, U.S.A. and was ordained a priest in 1971. He succeeds Bishop Bernard William Schmidt whose resignation the Holy Father accepted upon having reached the age limit.