![[home]](/comm/images/usccb_logo.gif){kind=logo}
WASHINGTON (June 29, 1998) -- Pope John Paul II accepted the resignation of Bishop Norman F. McFarland of Orange, California and appointed Bishop Tod D. Brown of Boise, Idaho as his successor.
The Pope named Auxiliary Bishop Patrick J. McGrath of San Francisco to be Coadjutor Bishop of San Jose in California. Most Reverend R. Pierre Dumaine is Bishop of San Jose, a post he has held since the diocese was established in 1981.
Pope John Paul appointed Monsignor John Charles Wester, Vicar for Clergy in the Archdiocese of San Francisco, to be Auxiliary Bishop of San Francisco and Titular Bishop of Lamiggiga.
Archbishop Agostino Cacciavillan, Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to the United States, made the announcements.
Tod Brown was born in San Francisco on November 15, 1936. He attended St. John's College-Theologate in Camarillo and the North American College in Rome, and was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Monterey-Fresno, May 1, 1962. He served as associate pastor of a church in Bakersfield and as chaplain of a high school and the Kern County Juvenile Hall.
From 1967 to 1969 Bishop Brown attended the University of San Francisco where he earned an MA in Education.
He was director of Catholic education in the Diocese of Monterey, a member of the diocesan consultors, the Senate of Priests and the finance and education committees.
In 1977 he became pastor of St. Francis Xavier church in Seaside. In 1982 he was named Chancellor, Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia, and was serving in those positions when he was named Bishop of Boise on December 27, 1988.
Norman F. McFarland was born February 21, 1922 in Martinez, California. He attended St. Patrick's College, Menlo Park, California, and the Catholic University of America, in Washington, D.C., where he received a doctorate in Canon Law.
Ordained June 15, 1946, in San Francisco, he served as an official of the San Francisco archdiocesan tribunal and also taught at Lone Mountain College and San Francisco College for Women.
Bishop McFarland was named Auxiliary Bishop of San Francisco in 1970. In 1974 he was named Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Reno--later Reno-Las Vegas--and in 1976 he was appointed Ordinary of the diocese. He was appointed Bishop of Orange on December 29, 1986.
Patrick J. McGrath was born in Dublin on July 11, 1945. His early education was in Ireland in schools operated by the Christian Brothers and the Marist Brothers. He attended St. John's College, seminary of the diocese of Waterford, and was ordained for the Archdiocese of San Francisco on June 7, 1970.
Following ordination, Father McGrath was named associate pastor of St. Anne's church in San Francisco where he remained for three years. After a brief assignment at the archdiocesan tribunal, he pursued doctoral studies at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome.
In 1979 he was named Vice-Officialis and later Officialis of the archdiocesan tribunal. He was serving in that capacity and as pastor of St. Mary's Cathedral when he was named Auxiliary Bishop of San Francisco on December 6, 1988.
John Charles Wester was born in San Francisco on November 5, 1950.
He received an A.B. from St. Joseph's College in 1972 and attended St. Patrick's Seminary, Menlo Park, earning an M. Div. degree. He earned an MA in spiritual theology at the University of San Francisco.
Bishop-designate Wester was ordained to the priesthood in St. Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco on May 15, 1976.
Following ordination, his assignments included associate pastor, St. Raphael church, San Rafael; teacher and administrator at Marin Catholic High School; assistant superintendent of Catholic schools; administrative assistant to the Archbishop; and pastor of St. Stephen church, San Francisco.
Bishop-designate Wester was named Vicar for the Clergy in 1997.