Pope Benedict XVI has named Bishop George H. Niederauer of Salt Lake City as the new archbishop of San Francisco.
Archbishop-designate Niederauer, 69, succeeds Archbishop William J. Levada who headed the San Francisco Archdiocese for 10 years before his appointment this past summer as prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Both men are native Southern Californians who were ordained a year apart for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, papal nuncio to the United States, announced the appointment in Washington Dec. 15.
The new San Francisco archbishop has headed the Salt Lake City Diocese since 1995. At St. John's Seminary in Camarillo, he was a classmate of Archbishop Levada and of Los Angeles Cardinal Roger M. Mahony.
Cardinal Mahony praised the appointment, calling the new archbishop a highly effective homilist and teacher. His classmate's recent book, "Precious as Silver: Imagining Your Life With God," is "a spiritual gem," Cardinal Mahony said.
"The Catholic community of San Francisco is blessed to receive as their new chief Shepard a gifted priest and bishop, a deeply committed disciple of Jesus Christ, and one whose love for the church is expressed in his service to all in the name of the Lord," the cardinal said.
George Hugo Niederauer was born in Los Angeles June 14, 1936; attended Catholic elementary and high schools; and was ordained a priest April 30, 1962 (along with Roger Michael Mahony, and a year after William Joseph Levada) after studies at St. John's Seminary. He has a degree in theology from The Catholic University of America in Washington and a doctorate in English literature from USC.
After several parish assignments he joined the St. John's Seminary faculty in 1965 and spent most of his priesthood in priestly formation, first as an English teacher, then as spiritual director and finally as rector from 1987 to 1992. He was named a Chaplain to the Holy Father (monsignor) in 1984 and a Prelate of Honor in 1988.
Widely sought as a speaker on priestly formation and director of priests' retreats, he was co-director of the Cardinal Manning House of Prayer for Priests in Los Angeles from 1992 until he was appointed eighth bishop of Salt Lake City on Nov. 3, 1994. He was ordained a bishop on Jan. 25, 1995.
In Utah he has supported numerous local causes and promoted interfaith efforts through the Alliance for Unity, a coalition of church, business, media and political leaders formed in 2001 to promote cooperation and mutual respect among the state's diverse religious, ethnic and political groups. Since 2000 he has chaired the Utah Coalition Against Pornography.
When a group of miners in rural Emery County went on strike in 2003-04 for better wages, safer working conditions and fair union representation --- they were earning about one-third the wages of workers at other mines --- he visited the picket line and supported the strikers. The Catholic Church provided food and other financial support to the strikers during the nine-and-a-half-month strike.
In 2004 he received the Gandhi Peace Award from Utah's Gandhi Alliance for Peace. In accepting the award he praised Mohandas K. Gandhi's insistence on nonviolence in the pursuit of justice. "He taught that intolerance is always a form of violence," Bishop Niederauer said.
Three years earlier in a panel discussion on nonviolence at the University of Utah at which Gandhi's grandson, Arun Gandhi, was also a participant, he condemned U.S. profiteering in the arms race. "Arms and weapons are the drugs and needles of the violent, and we, the U.S., are the pushers," he said.
In 2001, when the Vatican ruled that baptism in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not valid as a Christian baptism, he said the ruling "should not be understood as either judging or measuring a spiritual relationship between Jesus Christ and the LDS Church."
"As we know," he added, "the LDS Church baptizes all its new members who were previously baptized in any other church. That practice indicated that the LDS church regards its own baptism as accomplishing something which is substantially different from that of all other baptismal rites."
In Utah, where the LDS church has its headquarters and a majority of the population, the Catholic Church had been using the conditional form of baptism for Mormon converts to Catholicism which begins with the words, "If you have not been baptized, I baptize you." Following the ruling, it started using the absolute form, which begins simply, "I baptize you."
Archbishop-elect Niederauer is a member of the U.S. bishops' Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People; a member and chairman-elect of the bishops' Committee on Communications; chairman of its Subcommittee for Catholic News Service; and a member of its Subcommittee for Standards and Policy. From 1999 to 2002 he was chairman of the bishops' Committee on Priestly Formation.
When Utah amended its gun laws in 2003 to require places of worship to register with the state if they ban people from carrying concealed weapons in their facilities, he joined more than 30 of the state's religious leaders in protesting the new law and refusing to register their churches, synagogues or temples. Guns have no place in Catholic churches, he said, but "this (not registering) was not an oversight. ... I don't need the state of Utah's permission to make such a policy.... It is a surrender of our private property rights to submit to such a law."
In a recent interview with The Salt Lake Tribune, he said the recent Vatican instruction on homosexuality and priesthood candidates would not necessarily bar priesthood for men with lifelong attractions to men. "In every generation there have been many celibate priests whose principal attraction might be to their same sex," he said, and the real question is one of emotional maturity and integration of personality.
Since Archbishop-elect Niederauer came to the Salt Lake City Diocese, which covers all of Utah's nearly 85,000 square miles, the Catholic population has more than doubled, from 76,000 to 180,000, served by 43 parishes and 19 missions.
The San Francisco Archdiocese covers three California counties and a total of 1,012 square miles, but it serves 422,000 Catholics in 94 parishes and 10 missions.
Archbishop-elect Niederauer is the author of "Precious as Silver: Imagining Your Life with God" (Ave Maria Press). The news of his appointment for San Francisco came as a surprise to many Utah Catholics --- a mixture of heartfelt pride and sadness.
"His sharp mind, quick wit, compassionate heart and generosity are qualities we will greatly miss," said Msgr. J. Terrence Fitzgerald, vicar general of the Diocese of Salt Lake City. "The bishop's ecumenical outreach and frequent presence at both civic and Catholic events leaves a significant impact on Utah. No doubt the people of Utah will feel great sadness at his departure. We wish him well."
Holy Cross Sister Jacinta Millan, who works with Holy Cross Ministries, a social services provider in the Salt Lake Diocese, said the news of Archbishop Niederauer's departure "was quite alarming."
"I really feel our Bishop Niederauer has been a bridge-builder here in Utah, not only among different cultures but also in the ecumenical area," she said. "I am sad to see him go. He's so personable, so approachable. He makes you feel so much at home here, and I really appreciate that."
"Bishop Niederauer relates so well with all people; with teachers, students and parents," said James Hamburge, principal of Judge Memorial Catholic High School in Salt Lake City. "He has made a major commitment to visit all of the Catholic schools every year, and Catholic high school students are used to seeing him three or four times a year. He has taught religion classes and English classes. He has always been willing to share his insights."
Javier Chavez, a businessman and owner of Javier's Authentic Mexican Food restaurants in Ogden, said that although the appointment was good news "it's a loss for Utah."
"Right now he is being called by God to help the community in San Francisco, just as he has helped us for many years. As a Hispanic, I believe we have grown up a lot in our faith community with him leading us," he said.
As executive director of Catholic Community Services of Utah, the social services arm of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, Maggie St. Claire spoke in terms with which many Utah Catholics would agree: "My first thought on hearing of Bishop Niederauer's appointment was a selfish one. I want to keep him here, and I'm sure I'm not alone.
"He makes our job easier by being so involved in the community and by setting such a fine example," St. Claire said. "The community has a great deal of respect for him, which makes everything easier for us."
"He is a bishop of the people," said Msgr. Michael J. Winterer, pastor of Christ the King Parish in Cedar City, in southern Utah. "He is also a bishop of the priests. His priests feel very close to him, and priests are people, too.
"Bishop Niederauer is also a man of deep prayer," Msgr. Winterer added. "In the Gospel we hear John the Baptist refer to Jesus as 'the sent one.' Bishop Niederauer is definitely a man in that same model. He was sent to us --- a treasure, and now we send this treasure on to the people of San Francisco. He is a treasure from all of us to all of them." ---CNS
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