MINNESOTA
Star Tribune
By Tim Harlow Star Tribune MARCH 24, 2016
The Rev. Bernard Hebda has been named archbishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, church officials announced Thursday morning.
Hebda has been the acting leader of the archdioceses since June 15, 2015 after Archbishop John Nienstedt resigned in the wake of a clergy sex abuse scandal, a series of related lawsuits and investigations, and a bankruptcy filing.
Hebda, 56, was appointed Thursday morning by Pope Francis.
Hebda said he was “humbled by this expression of Pope Francis’s confidence and honored to serve this Archdiocese with its rich history and its long tradition of extraordinary priests, zealous religious and empowered laity, all working to put their faith into action.”
Hedba has been splitting his time between the Twin Cities and Newark, N.J., where he was on track to succeed Archbishop John J. Myers this year. Instead, Hebda will oversee the Twin Cities archdiocese.
Hebda joined priesthood in 1989 when he was ordained at the St. Paul Cathedral in his native Pittsburgh. In 1996, he was appointed to work in the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts in Rome, which is responsible for the interpretation of the church’s laws, especially the Code of Canon Law. He served in that position until 2009 when he was named as the fourth Bishop of the Diocese of Gaylord, Mich., by Pope Benedict XVI.
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