By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
Pope Francis is in the news for his decidedly different approach to social issues than his predecessors, Save Jerseyans, but the recently-minted Supreme Pontiff’s penchant for rocking the boat isn’t limited to public policy debates and long-fought culture wars.
He’s shaking stuff up in the Garden State, too.
According to the popular Catholic blog Whispers in the Loggia, on Tuesday morning in Rome, Francis appointed Bishop Bernard Hebda as coadjutor-archbishop of Newark.
Who? What? Lucky for you I attended Catholic schools! Hebda is 54 years old and currently serves a diocese in Michigan. This move puts him in line to succeed the current Bishop of Newark, 72 year-old Archbishop John Myers. But this move is more significant than simply establishing a line of succession…
Wikipedia’s definition of a “coadjutor bishop” is “a bishop in the Roman Catholic or Anglican churches who is designated to assist the diocesan bishop in the administration of the diocese, almost as co-bishop of the diocese. The coadjutor (literally, “co-assister” in Latin) is a bishop himself and is given authority even beyond that ordinarily given to the vicar-general (although a coadjutor is also appointed a vicar-general), making him co-ruler of the diocese in all but ceremonial precedence. In modern times, the coadjutor automatically succeeds the current bishop of a diocese upon the latter’s retirement, removal or death.”
A friend of mine with extensive knowledge of the process says “coadjutor” in this context is basically synonymous with “babysitter.”
Consider the context: Archbishop Myers has been besieged by scandals; notably, his handling of the Newark sex abuse scandal has led victims groups to demand his resignation. My understanding is that Hebda will now function as the day-to-day administrator of the diocese (think “Prime Minister” in a parliamentary system) while Myers transforms into a figurehead for the time being (e.g. Queen Elizabeth II).
For the benefit of my Protestant/non-Christian friends, New Jersey is divided into five Roman Catholic dioceses – Camden, Trenton, Paterson, Metuchen and Newark – with the latter being the most populous at approximately 1.4 million faithful strong. A strong plurality (37%) of New Jerseyans identify as Catholic. In the last national census, the next closest religious group in terms of raw numbers was the Baptists at 8%.
