Pope Names New Bishop Of Manchester, New Hampshire; Accepts Resignation Of Bishop McCormack

WASHINGTON—Pope Benedict XVI has named Auxiliary Bishop Peter Anthony Libasci of Rockville Centre, New York, 59, as bishop of Manchester, New Hampshire, and accepted the resignation of Bishop John McCormack of Manchester, 76.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /?>

The appointment and resignation were publicized in Washington, September 19, by Msgr. Jean-Francis Lantheaume, Chargė d’Affaires at the Apostolic Nunciature to the United States.

Peter Anthony Libasci was born November 9, 1951, in Queens, New York. He holds a bachelor of arts degree from St. John’s University, Jamaica, New York, a master of divinity degree from St. Meinrad’s Seminary, St. Meinrad, Indiana, and a master of arts degree in theology and catechetics from St. John’s University.

Bishop Libasci was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Rockville Centre in 1978, and an auxiliary bishop of Rockville Centre in 2007. He is bi-ritual and celebrates the liturgy in both the Roman Catholic and the Byzantine Ruthenian Catholic Church.

Bishop McCormack was named bishop of Manchester in 1998. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Boston in 1960, and auxiliary bishop of Boston in 1995. He is a graduate of St. John’s College and St. John’s School of Theology in Boston and holds a master of social work degree from Boston College. He is a native of Winthrop, Massachusetts.

The Manchester Diocese comprises the state of New Hampshire. It includes 1,324,575 people, of whom 287,728, or 22 percent, are Catholic.