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WASHINGTON (August 12, 1997) -- Pope John Paul II has accepted the resignation, for health reasons, of Archbishop Joseph T. Dimino, Ordinary for the Archdiocese for the Military Services, U.S.A. He named Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien, who has been Co- Adjutor Archbishop of the Archdiocese, to succeed him. Archbishop O'Brien is 58.
Archbishop Agostino Cacciavillan, Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to the United States, announced the resignation and appointment.
Edwin Frederick O'Brien was born in New York City on April 8, 1939.
After completing elementary and secondary schools, he attended Cathedral College, St. Joseph's Seminary, Dunwoodie, earning B.A., B.D., and M.A. degrees, and the Angelicum in Rome, where he earned the S.T.D. in Moral Theology.
Archbishop O'Brien was ordained a priest, May 29, 1965. Following ordination, he was named assistant pastor, Most Holy Trinity church, in West Point, New York. He became a military chaplain in 1970.
From 1970 to 1973, Archbishop O'Brien served as Army chaplain with the rank of Captain at 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, 173rd Airborne Brigade, 1st Cavalry Brigade, Vietnam, and Post Chaplain, Fort Gordon, Georgia.
From 1973 to 1976, he pursued graduate studies at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome.
He was appointed Vice Chancellor of the New York Archdiocese and assistant pastor, St. Patrick's Cathedral, in 1976.
Archbishop O'Brien was named Archdiocesan Director of Communications in 1980 and appointed Secretary to the Cardinal in 1983. In 1985 he was named Rector of St. Joseph's Seminary.
He was Rector of the North American College in Rome from 1989 to 1994 when he again became Rector of St. Joseph's Seminary. On March 25, 1996, he was ordained a bishop and named an auxiliary bishop of New York. On April 8, 1997, the Vatican announced his appointment as Co-Adjutor Archbishop for the Military Archdiocese.
Archbishop Dimino, 74, attended Cathedral College and St. Joseph's Seminary, Dunwoodie, and was ordained a priest June 4, 1949. In 1962, he was awarded a master's degree in religious education from The Catholic University of America.
From 1949-1953, he served in pastoral assignments in the New York Archdiocese. He served as a Navy chaplain from 1953 to 1977 and was recipient of the National Defense Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, the China Service Medal, and the Legion of Merit. He retired from the Navy in 1977 with the rank of captain. From 1977 to 1983 he served as chancellor of the Military Ordinariate. He was named Auxiliary Bishop of the Military Archdiocese in 1983 and named head of the Military Archdiocese in 1991.
The Archdiocese for the Military Services, U.S.A. was established as the Military Vicariate of the United States, September 8, 1957. It was created as the Archdiocese for the Military Services, U.S.A., on March 25, 1985. It serves more than one million U.S. Catholics of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Department of Veterans Affairs and those in government service overseas, and their dependents.
The Archdiocese for the Military Services is headquartered in Hyattsville, Maryland.