Monthly Archives: April 2019

Archbishop Etienne moving from Anchorage to Seattle

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On April 29 Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Paul Etienne (59) to be the Coadjutor Archbishop of Seattle. The archbishop was a priest of Indianapolis and also served from 2009-2016 as the Bishop of Cheyenne, Wyoming before becoming Archbishop of Anchorage, Alaska where he has served for just three years.

He will take up his new duties in Seattle in early June and then he and Archbishop Peter Sartain, who requested the coadjutor due to ill health, will determine when Archbishop Etienne (pronounced AY-chin) will succeed to the See as the ninth archbishop.

The archbishop famously redesigned his personal coat of arms when he moved from Cheyenne to Anchorage, a move that was highly criticized by me. Let’s hope he leaves well enough alone this time. Ironically, his original coat of arms would have ended up looking better marshaled to those of Seattle than his current design. This, then, is why one shouldn’t redesign personal arms to harmonize better with (arch)diocesan arms. It is impossible to know if you might be moving on.

Most Rev. Wilton Gregory Translated to Washington

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It was announced this morning that Pope Francis has appointed the Most Rev. Wilton Gregory, Archbishop of Atlanta to be the next Archbishop of Washington, DC. Archbishop Gregory was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Chicago originally and served as Auxiliary Bishop there before becoming the Bishop of Belleville, Illinois and eventually promoted to Archbishop of Atlanta. He also served at one time as President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. He will be installed in Washington, DC on May 21.

The coat of arms he has used since becoming a bishop 36 years ago will now be marshaled to those of the Archdiocese of Washington, DC.

On a silver (white) field a cross composed of three colors; black on green on red. These colors are referred to as the African-American colors and by their use Archbishop Gregory honors the religious and racial heritage that has come to him from his parents, Wilton and Ethel ( Duncan ) Gregory. Within the quarters that are formed by the cross are a raven, to honor the Archbishop’s Benedictine education at Sant’ Anselmo (in Rome), and a black bear taken from the arms of His Eminence, Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, His Excellency’s principal Episcopal consecrator. Also within the quarters are a red fleur-de-lis taken from the arms of the Mundelein Seminary in Chicago , where Archbishop Gregory was a student and faculty member, and a golden phoenix, coming forth from red flames, to honor Chicago , the city reborn after the famous Chicago fire.

Most Rev. Robert Brennan of Columbus, OH

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On Friday, March 29, 2019 the Most Rev. Robert Brennan, formerly Auxiliary Bishop of Rockville Centre, NY was installed as the twelfth Bishop of Columbus, Ohio. His personal arms now impaled with those of the See are described on the diocesan website.

The Brennan coat of arms comprises a white shield with a blue heraldic lion, and two red hands in the top corners of the shield. Rather than use the original design Bishop Brennan has chosen to retain the overall coloration and layout of his family coat of arms, while employing charges more evocative of his own life of faith. 

The main charge on the shield is the Cross, the foundation of the Christian faith. The arms of this particular Cross resemble a fleur-de-lis, a stylized lily often used as a symbol of the Virgin Mary.  

At the bottom of the cross appears a small white star, a symbol of Our Lady. Its position recalls the moment of the Commendation, when, “standing by the cross of Jesus” (John 19:25), Mary became, at her Son’s command, the Mother of all of his disciples (cf. John 19:27). The star has seven points, recalling the seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit. 

At the center of the cross appears a lamb’s head painted gold. The same charge figures prominently on the coat of arms of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, which Bishop Brennan served as a priest and bishop for nearly 30 years. Saint Agnes is the patroness of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, and of its Cathedral church, where Bishop Brennan resided for 16 years. 

At the top of the shield are two scallop shells painted red. Although the charges are the same, they are used here to allude to two different saints: John the Baptist and James the Greater. Bishop Brennan attended Saint John the Baptist High School (West Islip) and Saint John’s University, and the patron of these schools is often depicted in sacred art using a shell to baptize the Lord Jesus. The date of Bishop Brennan’s ordination as a bishop — July 25, 2012 — is the feast of Saint James, the brother of Saint John the Evangelist and the first of the apostles to be martyred, during the persecution of the early Church (Acts 12:1-2). The red color of the shells recalls the fact that both of these saints gave their lives as martyrs for the faith.