Newark to get coadjutor archbishop

Dennis Coday
National Catholic Reporter
September 23, 2013

Pope Francis will appoint a coadjutor archbishop to the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J., tomorrow to assist Archbishop John J. Myers in his ministry, NCR has learned.

Bernard A. Hebda, 54, currently bishop of Gaylord, Mich., will be named coadjutor archbishop of Newark on Tuesday, sources close to the process have told NCR.

Myers is 72 years old, putting him about three years away from mandatory retirement. He has been a bishop for 26 years and archbishop of Newark since 2001.

Newark has four auxiliary bishops, two in their 50s and two in their 70s.

It is common for bishops of large dioceses to be assisted by one or more auxiliary bishops, who generally exercise authority in the name of the local bishop over a defined territory or administrative responsibility. A coadjutor bishop is usually appointed when a current bishop needs significant help in his ministry.

A coadjutor bishop has nearly the same authority as the current diocesan bishop, and some receive special faculties with their appointment. A coadjutor bishop automatically becomes head of the diocese upon the death or retirement of the bishop of the diocese.

Unlike auxiliary bishops, coadjutors receive the title “archbishop” if they are assigned to an archdiocese.

Myers attracted extensive media attention in the spring after a local newspaper revealed that a priest, who was under court order not to minister to minors and whom Myers had installed in restrictive ministries, was helping with youth ministry in a parish in a neighboring diocese. Myers was faulted for not supervising the priest, Fr. Michael Fugee, who has since been removed from ministry and arrested for violating his court agreement.

Myers was back in the news in August with the announcement that the diocese of Peoria, Ill., had settled a case of childhood sexual abuse by a priest for $1.35 million. The case against Msgr. Thomas Maloney stemmed from the time Myers was bishop in Peoria.

Myers was appointed coadjutor bishop of Peoria, Ill., in September 1987 and became bishop of Peoria in January 1990.

The Newark archdiocese covers 511 square miles over four counties in New Jersey and has a total population of 3.08 million people, with 1.42 million, or 46 percent of them, Catholic. The archdiocese has about 600 diocesan and 160 religious priests and about 220 parishes.

Hebda was appointed bishop of Gaylord in 2009. He was ordained a priest for the Pittsburgh diocese by then Pittsburgh Bishop Donald W. Wuerl in 1989. Wuerl is now a cardinal and archbishop of Washington, D.C.

Hebda served in Rome from 1996 to 2009 at the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts, now called the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, which is responsible for the interpretation of canon law. In 2003, he was named the council’s undersecretary.

While he was in Rome, Hebda served as an adjunct spiritual director at the Pontifical North American College. He also was a confessor for the postulants of the Missionaries of Charity and for the community’s sisters who worked at a home for unwed mothers.

Hebda earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., and a law degree from Columbia University in New York. He worked for a law firm for one year before entering the seminary. After his ordination, he obtained a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, also known as the Angelicum, in Rome.

While in the Diocese of Pittsburgh, he was parochial vicar at Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Ellwood City and master of ceremonies for the bishop’s office. He also served on a ministry team at Prince of Peace Parish in Pittsburgh and was director of campus ministry at Slippery Rock University. He served on the canonical advisory council, the priest council and the priest personnel board.