BALTIMORE — Bishop Gregory Parkes of St. Petersburg, Florida, will be the next treasurer of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, taking office next November.
Bishops voted 157-87 for Parkes as treasurer-elect Nov. 14 during their fall general assembly.
Votes also were cast for a new chairman of the Committee on National Collections and chairmen-elect for the committees on Catholic Education; Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations; Divine Worship; Domestic Justice and Human Development; Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth; and Migration.
Archbishop Paul Etienne of the Anchorage, Alaska, was elected to chair the Committee on National Collections. He outpolled Bishop Thomas Daly of Spokane, Washington, 137-111. Etienne will replace Bishop Joseph Cistone, 69, of Saginaw, Michigan, who died Oct. 16; he was voted in as chairman-elect at the November 2017 assembly and was to have taken office at the end of this year’s assembly.
In February, Cistone announced that he had begun treatment for lung cancer. The bishop was optimistic about what was to be a six-month treatment. He had experienced a persistent cough and labored breathing since September 2017, and he sought tests that diagnosed the cancer.
Parkes will succeed Cincinnati Archbishop Dennis Schnurr, who is starting his third and final year of his three-year term. The St. Petersburg prelate will serve one year as treasurer-elect and then start a three-year term in office at the conclusion of the 2019 fall general assembly.
The treasurer also chairs the Committee on Budget and Finance and serves as vice chairman of the Committee on Priorities and Plans.
Bishops also voted for chairmen-elect of five committees. Those elected will serve for one year before beginning three-year terms at the conclusion of the bishops’ 2019 fall general assembly.
Those elected include:
— Committee on Catholic Education: Bishop Michael Barber of Oakland, California, over Bishop David Malloy of Rockford, Illinois, 142-103.
— Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations: Bishop James Checchio of Metuchen, New Jersey, over Bishop Michael Olson of Fort Worth, Texas, 168-77.
— Committee on Divine Worship: Archbishop Leonard Blair of Hartford, Connecticut, over Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay, Wisconsin, 132-113.
— Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development: Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City over Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico, 140-105.
— Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth: Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco over Bishop John Doerfler of Marquette, Michigan. The vote finished in a tie at 125 votes each, but Cordileone became the chairman because he has been a bishop longer.
— Committee on Migration: Auxiliary Bishop Mario Dorsonville-Rodríguez of Washington, over Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, Kentucky, 158-88.
The bishops also re-elected one member and elected two new members to the Catholic Relief Services board of directors. Bishop James Johnston Jr. of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri, was re-elected. New members are Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese of the Military Services USA and Bishop Oscar Solis of Salt Lake City.
