VATICAN CITY
Boston.com
March 31, 2005
VATICAN CITY -- The pope on Thursday accepted the resignation of Bishop Robert Mulvee as leader of the Providence, R.I., Diocese, submitted for reason of age, the Vatican said.
Mulvee turned 75 on Feb. 15, the normal retirement age for bishops.
Pope John Paul II named Bishop Thomas Tobin of Youngstown, Ohio, as Mulvee's successor, the Vatican said.
Mulvee was ordained in 1977 as auxiliary bishop of Manchester, and was named the Bishop of Wilmington, Delaware in 1985. He joined the Providence Diocese in 1995 as Coadjutor Bishop, and was named bishop two years later.
He previously served at a number of parishes in New Hampshire, and received his doctorate in canon law at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome.
Mulvee has said that he will remain active in the church, even after his retirement.
The Providence Diocese is the 25th largest diocese in the United States, and covers the state of Rhode Island, with 152 parishes and about 679,000 members.
It reached a $14.5 million settlement last year with 37 people who had sued the diocese over clergy sexual abuse.
Posted by kshaw at March 31, 2005 06:55 AM