Bishop Chaput to be Archbishop of Denver; An Auxiliary in Pittsburgh
WASHINGTON, (February 18, 1997) -- Pope John Paul II has named Bishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M., Cap., of Rapid City, South Dakota, to be Archbishop of Denver. He succeeds Archbishop J. Francis Stafford who last August was appointed President of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Laity.
Archbishop-designate Chaput, 52, was the second priest of Native American ancestry ordained a bishop in the United States. He is a member of the Potawatomi Tribe of Kansas.
The Pope appointed Monsignor David A. Zubik, 47, Vicar General of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, to be Titular Bishop of Jamestown and Auxiliary Bishop of Pittsburgh.
Archbishop Agostino Cacciavillan, Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to the United States, announced the appointments.
Charles Joseph Chaput was born in Concordia, Kansas, on September 26, 1944. He attended Our Lady of Perpetual Help school in Concordia and St. Francis Seminary High School in Victoria, Kansas. He studied at St. Fidelis College in Herman, Pennsylvania, Capuchin College, Washington, D.C., at the University of San Francisco, and at the Catholic University of America.
Archbishop-designate Chaput took final vows as a Capuchin Friar on July 14, 1968, and was ordained a priest on August 29, 1970, in Victoria, Kansas. Following ordination, he served as instructor in theology and as spiritual director at St. Fidelis College Seminary. He then became Executive Secretary and Director of Communications of the Capuchin Province of St. Augustine, headquartered in Pittsburgh.
In 1977 he was elected Vicar Provincial of the Province of Mid-America. He also held the posts of Provincial Secretary, Treasurer, Director of Postulants and Vocation Director.
Archbishop-designate Chaput was pastor of Holy Cross Church in Thornton, Colorado from 1977 to 1980.
He was among a group of Native Americans who greeted Pope John Paul when the Holy Father visited Phoenix during his 1987 trip to the United States.
Archbishop-designate Chaput was serving as Provincial Minister of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America when he was named Bishop of Rapid City, May 3, 1988.
He was President of the North American Capuchin Conference, 1984-1986, a member of the Board of Directors of the Denver Indian Health Board, 1987-1988, a member of the Board of Directors of the Tekawitha Conference, 1988-1993, a member of the Liturgy Committee of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB), 1988-1990, and a member of the NCCB Priestly Life And Ministry Committee, 1988-1991, and a member of the Committee on the Diaconate, 1992-1995.
Archbishop-designate Chaput serves on the NCCB Ad Hoc Committee on Native American Catholics, the Ad Hoc Committee on Shrines, and the NCCB Committee on Science and Human Values. He is a Consultant to the Committee on Pro-Life Activities.
He was also a member of the Ad Hoc Committee on World Youth Day, held in Denver in 1993, at which Pope John Paul addressed thousands of Catholic young people from throughout the world.
The Archdiocese of Denver comprises 24 counties in the northern part of the State of Colorado. Erected a diocese in 1887 and created an archdiocese in 1941, it has a Catholic population of 340,875 in a total population of nearly 2.6 million.
The newly named Auxiliary Bishop of Pittsburgh, David A. Zubik, was born on September 4, 1949, in Sewickley, Pennsylvania.
After attending St. Paul Seminary in Pittsburgh, he studied at St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, and Duquesne University in Pittsburgh where he earned a Master of Education degree.
Bishop-elect Zubik was ordained a priest on May 3, 1975.
He was Parochial Vicar of Sacred Heart, Pittsburgh, 1975-1980, Vice-President of Quigley High School and Chaplain of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Baden, 1980-1987, Secretary to the Bishop from 1987 to 1991, and Diocesan Director of Clergy Personnel, 1991-1996.
Bishop-elect Zubik has been Associate Spiritual Director, St. Vincent Seminary, Latrobe, since 1989 and President of the Diocesan Finance Council since 1995.
He was appointed Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia in 1996. He also serves as Chaplain of the Sisters of the Holy Spirit Motherhouse in Pittsburgh.
Most Reverend Donald W. Wuerl is Bishop of Pittsburgh.