Bishop
Matthew Clark, head of the Rochester Roman Catholic diocese since 1979, has officially
retired. Clark announced at a press conference today that Pope Benedict XVI has
accepted his resignation.
Bishop
Robert Cunningham, head of the Syracuse diocese, will lead the Rochester
diocese until a new bishop is named.
Clark turned
75 on July 15 — the age bishops are required to submit their letter of
resignation.
Clark
oversaw some major and controversial transitions within the diocese during his
tenure, including the closings of numerous Catholic schools. Many of the city’s
churches were also closed as more Catholics moved to the suburbs.
There are
roughly 300,000 Roman Catholics in the Rochester diocese.
This article appears in Sep 19-25, 2012.
Let us hope that the Holy See’s relatively swift action signals that the cleanup will be urgently pursued.
And let’s hope that the DOR will return to orthodox Catholicism versus the progressive drivel +Clark was pushing for decades.