Bishop: New post appears unlikely

By HAROLD GWIN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — Bishop George Murry of the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown doesn’t know if he’s being considered for appointment as archbishop of St. Louis, Mo., but he said such an appointment is highly unlikely.

A Tuesday story in the Saint Louis Beacon, a nonprofit online publication, said Bishop Murry was on a short list of five likely candidates to fill the vacant religious post, although the story noted that the writer was unable to confirm that any of the five were actually on a list.

Bishop Murry said Thursday that he was unaware that anyone might be considering him for the post.

The fact that he has served as bishop of Youngstown only since March 2007 would make it unlikely he would be a candidate for such a move so soon, he noted.

Bishop Murry said he learned of the Beacon story in calls from two friends.

“I don’t think there’s any realistic chance I will be appointed,” he said.

The archbishop is appointed by the pope, and such issues are handled in secret until an appointment is actually made, Bishop Murry said.

The appointee isn’t even aware of the process until he receives a call from the papal nuncio, the pope’s envoy to a nation with which the Vatican has diplomatic relations.

The papal nuncio announces that the Holy Father has appointed someone to a post, Bishop Murry said.

“You don’t know about it beforehand,” he said, noting that was how he learned of his appointment to Youngstown.

The appointment of the new archbishop could come as soon as November.

Bishop Murry served as bishop of the Diocese of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands between 1999 and his appointment in Youngstown.

The Jesuit priest is the first black Catholic bishop of Youngstown and was one of just 15 black Catholic bishops in the United States at the time of his appointment.

He had said he planned to spend his first year here visiting parishes, schools, hospitals and Catholic Charity offices, getting to know priests, nuns, lay staffs and parishioners.

In addition to the Virgin Islands, he has served the church in Chicago, Detroit and Washington, D.C.

gwin@vindy.com