Monsignor J. Terrence Fitzgerald, director of Catholic Community Services since Jan. 1 and most recently principal of Judge Memorial High School, was elected Thursday as administrator of the Diocese of Salt Lake City.
The appointment was made by a panel of seven Utah priests meeting in Sacramento, Calif., in conjunction with installation ceremonies of William K. Weigand as bishop of Sacramento, said Julie Anderson, assistant for public relations for the diocese.Monsignor Fitzgerald, a native of Salt Lake City, will remain in his post until a new bishop is named to succeed Bishop Weigand. He also will continue to head Catholic Community Services.
About 20 close associates of Bishop Weigand in Utah were in Sacramento on Thursday for the installation with a Mass at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in downtown Sacramento.
Bishop Weigand succeeds Bishop Francis
Quinn, 72, who is retiring.
Monsignor Fitzgerald, 57, will have the power of a bishop, excluding such things as ordinations. Officials said every effort will be made to respect the direction given the diocese by Bishop Weigand and to prepare the way for a new bishop.
Appointment by the Vatican of a new bishop can take as little as six months but typically takes nine months to a year.
Monsignor Fitzgerald was among the panel of priests making the selection, but he told the Deseret News on Friday that he had no idea he would be selected.
He said the priests met and prayed and discussed expectations for the position before a secret ballot was taken. He said he was elected on a second ballot.
"I was very surprised that I was elected to this position of trust. It is my goal to maintain stability and peace in the diocese during this period of transition. My hope is that we maintain the high quality of Catholic life and community involvement that has flourished under Bishop Weigand.
"We hope to use this time as prayerful preparation for the coming of the new bishop. I expect that I will have the support of the clergy, religious and lay people of the diocese. I know that the body of consultors who will assist me during this transition bring vast experience and solid focus that will be very beneficial for me," Monsignor Fitzgerald said.
Monsignor Fitzgerald served as vicar general - administrative assistant to the bishop - of the diocese from 1980 to 1982 and has been pastor of various Utah parishes throughout his career. He graduated from Judge Memorial High School in 1954, from Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon in 1962 and was ordained a priest at the Cathedral of the Madeleine, later returning to the Oregon seminary as president-rector from 1984 to 1990.
He received a master of social work degree from the University of Utah in 1964 and did other post-graduate work from 1963 to 1964 at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
Canon law dictates that "consultors," the panel of seven priests, meet within eight days from the time a bishop leaves a diocese and takes "possession" of a new diocese. This occurred Wednesday when Bishop Weigand, who directed the Salt Lake diocese for 13 years, presented his credentials to the consultors of the Diocese of Sacramento.