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Pennsylvania bishop named to lead Fort Wayne-South Bend diocese

Bishop John D’Arcy (left) poses with Bishop Kevin Rhoades after introducing Rhoades as his successor on Saturday, Nov. 14. Rhoades will be installed Jan. 13, 2010, as head of the Fort Wayne-South bend Catholic Diocese.
Bishop John D’Arcy (left) poses with Bishop Kevin Rhoades after introducing Rhoades as his successor on Saturday, Nov. 14. Rhoades will be installed Jan. 13, 2010, as head of the Fort Wayne-South bend Catholic Diocese. Photo provided.

Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades will be installed Jan. 13, 2010, as the ninth bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend.

Rhoades, currently the bishop of the Diocese of Harrisburg, PA, will succeed Bishop John M. D'Arcy, who has served as bishop of the local diocese since 1985.
D'Arcy, now 77, had submitted his resignation at age 75 as required by the church. With the appointment of Rhoades, 51, Pope Benedict XVI accepted D'Arcy's resignation.

The appointment was announced Saturday, Nov. 14, in Washington, DC, by Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States. On the same day, D'Arcy introduced Rhoades at the Archbishop Noll Catholic Center in Fort Wayne.

"This appointment shows the great importance Pope Benedict XVI places on this diocese," D'Arcy said in a statement posted on his Web site. "He has sent us a well-prepared bishop, who has served five years as bishop of a diocese larger than ours."

D'Arcy said Rhoades' success in recruiting new priests and his fluency in Spanish are both skills greatly needed in the local diocese.

"My greatest joys as bishop have been in being with the people, teaching the faith and celebrating the sacraments," Rhoades told the group assembled in Fort Wayne. "I am looking forward to visiting the parishes, schools and other communities of my new diocese."

Rhoades, a Pennsylvania native, earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Overbrook, PA, in 1979. He studied theology at the North American College and the Pontifical Gregorian University, both in Rome, from 1979 to 1983. He also studied Spanish at the University of Salamanca in Spain during the summer of 1982.

Rhoades was ordained a deacon at St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City in 1982 and was ordained a priest of the Harrisburg Diocese on July 9, 1983. He served as a parochial vicar at St. Patrick Parish in York, PA, from 1983 to 1985 and ministered to two Spanish-speaking apostolates in the area.

He returned to the Gregorian University in Rome in 1985, earning advanced degrees in dogmatic theology and canon law. Upon his return to the Harrisburg Diocese in 1988, he was named assistant chancellor to the bishop, served as director of a three-county Spanish apostolate and was administrator pro-tem of a Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Lebanon, PA.

Rhodes was named pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Harrisburg, PA, in 1990, serving there until joining the faculty of Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg, MD, in 1995. At the seminary, he taught courses in systematic theology, canon law and Hispanic ministry. He was named rector of the seminary in 1997.

Rhoades was named bishop of the Diocese of Harrisburg on Oct. 14, 2004.

The Diocese of Harrisburg includes 15 counties of south-central Pennsylvania with more than 250,000 Catholics.
The Fort Wayne South Bend Diocese includes 14 counties in Indiana - Adams, Allen, DeKalb, Elkhart, Huntington, Kosciusko, LaGrange, Marshall, Noble, Steuben, St. Joseph, Wabash, Wells, and Whitley. Approximately 160,000 Catholics live in the diocese.

Rhoades serves as president of the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, as co-chair of the Pennsylvania Conference on Interchurch Cooperation, chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Task Force on Health Care and as Episcopal moderator of the National Catholic Office for the Deaf.

He is a member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Subcommittee on the Catechism, the board of trustees of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the board of trustees of Mount St. Mary's University, the board of trustees of St. Charles Seminary, the board of regents of St. Vincent Seminary, the Episcopal advisory board of the Theology of the Body Institute, and the Episcopal cabinet for Catholic Charities USA. and the Bishops' Advisory Council of The Institute for Priestly Formation.