FALL RIVER (MA)
South Coast Today
By SIMÓN RIOS
srios@s-t.com
July 03, 2014
FALL RIVER — The country’s first Brazilian-born bishop will take the helm of the Diocese of Fall River this fall, a year-and-a-half after the election of the first pope from Latin America.
“I wish to greet all my brother priests, and tell them I am eager to know them and work with them for the good of God’s people here in this area,” said the Rev. Edgar Moreira da Cunha, currently an auxiliary bishop of the Newark, NJ Archdiocese, who was named the eighth bishop of Fall River today.
Da Cunha, 60, will succeed Bishop George W. Coleman, who resigned after turning 75 this year in accordance with church law. The incoming diocesan chief spoke in English, Spanish and his native Portuguese, indicating with a smile his support for the Brazilian football squad as it gears up for its next match.
The appointment of Bishop da Cunha was announced this morning in the nation’s capital by Archbishop Carlo M. Vigano, the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, after his candidacy was given the blessing of Pope Francis himself.
Bishop Coleman welcomed da Cunha at a press event in Fall River today. …
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a national advocacy group, said today that da Cunha has shown no real courage or compassion in one of the worst archdioceses in the U.S. for clergy sex abuse victims.
Asked to respond to that claim, da Cunha said in his position with the Archdiocese of Newark it was not his responsibility directly to address these issues.
“And even so, the Diocese of Newark has addressed these concerns (effectively and with care)… and as has been directed by the bishops of this country and by our policies,” he said.
David Clohessy, a victim of clergy abuse director of the Survivors Network, criticized da Cunha for failing to distance himself from the Newark hierarchy.
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