Awash in Speculation, NH Waits to Hear from Its Bishop, by Kathryn Marchocki, New Hampshire Union Leader, September 19, 2011

Awash in Speculation, NH Waits to Hear from Its Bishop

By Kathryn Marchocki
New Hampshire Union Leader
September 19, 2011

http://www.unionleader.com/article/20110919/NEWS08/709199977

Bishop John McCormack begins a special 10th anniversary remembrance Mass for 9/11 Sunday at St. Joseph Cathedral in Manchester. (JOSH GIBNEY / UNION LEADER)

MANCHESTER - Pope Benedict XVI today named the Most Rev. Peter Anthony Libasci as tenth Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Manchester.

Libasci, 59, has been auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, N.Y., since 2007.

Libasci was born in Queens, N.Y., and was ordained a priest in the Rockville Centre diocese in 1978.

McCormack will hold a news conference at 10 a.m. today where he will introduce Libasci.

Libasci will be installed as bishop Dec. 8.

The Pope also named McCormack as the diocese's apostolic administrator. As such, he will continue to lead the mission and ministries of the church until Libasci's installation as bishop.

The full text of original article continues below.

MANCHESTER - Bishop John B. McCormack, who submitted his resignation as ninth bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester 13 months ago, will hold a major news conference today.

Neither McCormack nor other diocesan officials would disclose the nature of the media conference, which will be held at St. Joseph Cathedral Rectory at 10 a.m.

"Everything that is going to be released will be released tomorrow," diocesan spokesman Kevin J. Donovan said Sunday night.

McCormack, 76, submitted his resignation to Pope Benedict XVI shortly before he turned 75 on Aug. 12, 2010.

All bishops, archbishops and cardinals must submit their resignations to the Pope before their 75th birthdays.

The Manchester diocese includes the entire state and has an estimated 285,000 Catholics.

McCormack, a former auxiliary bishop in the Boston archdiocese under Cardinal Bernard F. Law, took over as bishop of Manchester on Sept. 22, 1998.

His nearly 13-year term has been marked by controversy over his handling of child sexual abuse priests while serving as Law's cabinet secretary from 1984-1994.

Several priest and laity privately expressed surprise the bishop would hold a major news conference at the cathedral rectory.

While Auxiliary Bishop Francis J. Christian keeps an apartment at the rectory, its current sole occupant is Msgr. Anthony R. Frontiero. Frontiero took over as rector of the cathedral on Sept. 1. Frontiero returned to New Hampshire this summer after completing a five-year assignment with the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace at the Vatican.