WASHINGTON (November 4, 1998)--Pope John Paul II has named Auxiliary Bishop Bernard J. Harrington of Detroit as Bishop of Winona, Minnesota.

Bishop Harrington succeeds Most Reverend John G. Vlazny who was named Archbishop of Portland, Oregon, in 1997.

Archbishop Agostino Cacciavillan, Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to the United States, announced the appointment.

Bernard J. Harrington was born in Detroit, September 6, 1933. After attending Sacred Heart Seminary, Detroit, and St. John's Provincial Seminary, Plymouth, Michigan, he pursued graduate studies at the Catholic University of America and the University of Detroit, where he earned an MA degree in secondary education. He was ordained June 6, 1959.

After ordination, Bishop Harrington served, among other assignments, as archdiocesan superintendent of schools, pastor of Holy Name Church, Birmingham, and rector/president of Sacred Heart College Seminary, Detroit. He also served as president of the Detroit archdiocesan priests' senate from 1987 to 1989.

Named pastor of St. Rene Goupil parish, Sterling Heights, in 1984, Bishop Harrington was serving in that post when he was named Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit and Titular Bishop of Uzali on November 23, 1993.

The Diocese of Winona comprises 20 counties in the State of Minnesota. It has a Catholic population of 148, 445 in a total population of 528,303.

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