Pope Names Co-Adjutor Bishop O’Connell as Bishop of Trenton, Accepts Resignation of Trenton’s Bishop Smith; Names New Auxiliary for St. Louis, Accepts Resignation of Auxiliary There

WASHINGTON (December 1, 2010) — Pope Benedict XVI has named Co-Adjutor Bishop David M. O’Connell, 55, as bishop of the Diocese of Trenton, New Jersey, and accepted the resignation of Bishop John M. Smith from the pastoral governance of the Trenton Diocese.

The same day the pope named Msgr. Edward M. Rice, 50, director of vocations in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, as an auxiliary bishop of St. Louis and accepted the resignation of Auxiliary Bishop Robert Hermann from the office of auxiliary bishop of St. Louis.

The appointments and resignations were publicized in Washington, December 1, by Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Bishop O’Connell, who was president of The Catholic University of America, 1998-2010, was named co-adjutor bishop of Trenton last June. He is a member of the Congregation of the Missions (Vincentians) and holds a doctor of canon law degree from Catholic University.

Bishop Smith, 75, has been bishop of Trenton since 1997. He holds a doctorate in canon law from Catholic University.

The Trenton Diocese has 2,156 square miles. It has a population of 2,019,789 people with 783,285, or 39 percent, of them Catholic.

Edward M. Rice was born in St. Louis, July 28, 1960. He attended St. Mary’s High School in St. Louis and studied for the seminary at the archdiocese’s Cardinal Glennon College and Kenrick Seminary. He was ordained a priest for the St. Louis Archdiocese, January 3, 1987, and named a chaplain of his holiness, carrying the title “monsignor” in 2008.

Following ordination Bishop-elect Rice was assigned as associate pastor, Our Lady of Presentation Parish, Overland, Missouri, 1987; associate pastor at St. Mary Magdalen, Parish, St. Louis City, Missouri and teacher at St. Mary High School, 1991; Director of Cardinal Glennon College and continued teaching at St. Mary, 1994; Director of Cardinal Glennon College Program of Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, 1995; pastor, St. John the Baptist Parish, St. Louis, 2000; Director, Office of Vocations, 2008, and Interim Director of the Office of Consecrated Life, continuing as Director of Vocations, in 2009.

Bishop Hermann, 76, was named an auxiliary bishop of St. Louis in 2002. In the archdiocese has served as an educator, pastor and vicar general.

The St. Louis Archdiocese has a population of 2,232,379 persons, with 531,770, or 24 percent, of them Catholic.