WASHINGTON (December 15, 1997) -- Pope John Paul II accepted the resignation of Bishop Thomas J. Welsh of Allentown and appointed Auxiliary Bishop Edward P. Cullen of Philadelphia as his successor.

Archbishop Agostino Cacciavillan, Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to the United States, made the announcement.

Edward Peter Cullen was born in Philadelphia, March 15, 1933. He studied at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary and was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia on May 19, 1962.

He subsequently earned three graduate degrees, Master of Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania in 1970, Master of Religious Education from LaSalle College in 1971, and Master of Divinity from St. Charles Seminary in 1974.

He served six years as a parish priest and one year as a high school chaplain. The then-Monsignor Cullen was director of Catholic Social Services and a member of the Priests' Council and the College of Consultors.

Appointed Vicar for Administration in Philadelphia in 1988, Bishop Cullen was named Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia and Titular Bishop of Paria di Proconsolare, February 8, 1994

Thomas J. Welsh was born in Weatherly, Pennsylvania, December 20, 1921. He studied at the Catholic University of America and St. Charles, Overbrook, and was ordained May 30, 1946. He was named Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia on February 18, 1970, appointed first Bishop of Arlington, Virginia on June 4, 1974, and named Bishop of Allentown, February 3, 1983.

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