Local Priest Named Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia, by Steve Tawa, KYW, June 8, 2009

Local Priest Named Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia

By Steve Tawa
KYW
June 8, 2009

http://www.kyw1060.com/Local-Priest-Named-Auxiliary-Bishop-of-Philadelphi/4556530

Pope Benedict XVI is appointing a local monsignor as auxiliary bishop of Philadelphia.

Bishop-elect Timothy Senior, 49 (above), will be helping Cardinal Justin Rigali with day-to-day activities.

Senior recalls getting the phone call from the archbishop:

"It was actually Memorial Day -- at 11:46."

A priest for 24 years before Rome made the decision, Senior was doing some gardening work for his mother outside the home in which he grew up in North Wales, Pa.

"I sat down on the bench of the picnic table outside, under a tree."

But he was supposed to stay mum about the call to the Episcopacy until the cardinal made the official announcement:

"I prayed quietly, and then went back to finishing the geraniums and impatiens, because (I wasn't) allowed to tell anybody until this morning."

The bishop-elect, who attended Lansdale Catholic High and St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, will be ordained on July 31st at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul.