Pope Names Bishop Vigneron Archbishop of Detroit, Names New Auxiliary in Orange, Accepts Resignations of Cardinal Maida, Bishop McRaith
WASHINGTON—Pope Benedict XVI accepted the resignation of Cardinal Adam Maida of Detroit and named Bishop Allen H. Vigneron, Bishop of Oakland, California, as his successor. The pope also accepted the resignation of Bishop John J. McRaith of Owensboro, Kentucky, and named a new auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Orange, California, Father Cirilo B. Flores.
The appointments were announced in Washington on January 5, by Archbishop Pietro Sambi, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States.
Cardinal Maida, 78, has served as the archbishop of Detroit since 1990. He studied at St. Vincent's College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore. He was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Pittsburgh on May 26, 1956, and later obtained a licentiate in canon law from the Lateran University in Rome and a doctorate in civil law from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.
In 1973, he was appointed a consultor to the Vatican Commission for the Revision of the Code of Canon Law. He was serving as the vice chancellor of Pittsburgh when he was appointed bishop of Green Bay on November 8, 1983. He was elevated to the College of Cardinals on November 26, 1994.
Allen H. Vigneron was born October 21, 1948, in Mt. Clemens, Michigan. He earned the S.T.L. at the Gregorian University, Rome, in 1977, and a Ph.D. at the Catholic University of America, Washington, in 1988.
Archbishop-elect Vigneron was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Detroit on July 26, 1975. He taught at Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit while also serving as its academic dean and vice rector from 1984-1991, and rector starting in 1994. He worked in the Vatican Secretariat of State from 1991-1994. He was named a Prelate of Honor by Pope John Paul II in 1994.
Appointed titular bishop of Sault Sainte Marie and auxiliary bishop of Detroit on June 12, 1996, he was ordained a bishop July 9, 1996. He was appointed coadjutor bishop of Oakland on January 10, 2003, installed February 26, 2003, and succeeded Bishop John S. Cummins as bishop of Oakland on October 1, 2003.
Cirilo Flores was born in Corona, California, on June 20, 1948. He attended Corona Unified School District, St. Edward School, Notre Dame High School, Riverside, and Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1970.
He received a Juris Doctor degree from Stanford University Law School, Palo Alto, California, and received a Master of Divinity degree from St. John Seminary, Camarillo, in 1991. He was ordained a priest on June 8, 1991.
Bishop-elect Flores is also a member of the Diocesan Finance Council and the Editorial Board of the Orange County Catholic diocesan newspaper.
Bishop McRaith, 74, has served the Diocese of Owensboro since 1982. He was born in Hutchinson, Minnesota, and attended St. John Preparatory School in Collegeville, Minnesota, and Loras College and St. Bernard Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa. He was ordained a priest of the Diocese of New Ulm, Minnesota, on February 21, 1960. He served as both Chancellor and Vicar General of the Diocese of New Ulm until his appointment as Bishop of Owensboro on October 23, 1982.