Pope Francis Accepts Resignation of Bishop Frederick Campbell of Columbus; Names Bishop Robert Brennan of Rockville Centre As Successor

WASHINGTON—Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Frederick Campbell, 75, from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Columbus, Ohio and has named Bishop Robert Brennan to succeed him.

WASHINGTON—Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Frederick Campbell, 75, from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Columbus, Ohio and has named Bishop Robert Brennan to succeed him. Bishop Brennan is an Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre.

The resignation and appointment was publicized in Washington, January 31, 2019 by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Bishop Robert Brennan, 56, was born on June 7, 1962 in the Bronx, New York. He attended St. John’s University in Queens, NY, where he earned his undergraduate degree in Math. He earned his Masters of Divinity from the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington, NY.

He was ordained to the priesthood on May 27, 1989 for the Diocese of Rockville Centre. Bishop Brennan was named Honorary Prelate to His Holiness Pope Saint John Paul II with the title of monsignor on May 27, 1996. He was consecrated as an auxiliary for the Diocese of Rockville Centre on July 25, 2012.

Other assignments included: priest of Church of Saint Patrick; Secretary to the Bishop for the late Bishop John R. McGann, the late Bishop James T. McHugh, and Bishop William Murphy; vicar general and moderator of the curia, pastor of the Church of Saint Mary of the Isle, member of the Board of Directors for Catholic Heath Services of Long Island, member of the Bishop’s Advisory Committee for Catholic Education, chaplain for the Catholic Lawyers Guild of Nassau County.

Bishop Campbell was ordained a priest in 1980. He served as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis from 1999 to 2004, and then as the eleventh bishop of the Diocese of Columbus since 2004.

The Diocese of Columbus is comprised of 29,282 square miles in the state of Ohio and has a total population of 2,447,972 of which 252,103 or 10.3 percent, are Catholic.

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Keywords: U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, USCCB, Pope Francis, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio, Most Rev. Bishop Frederick Campbell, Columbus, Most Rev. Robert Brennan, Rockville Centre

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