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WASHINGTON (October 25, 1999) -- Pope John Paul II appointed Auxiliary Bishop Gerald M. Barbarito of Brooklyn as Bishop of Ogdensburg, New York, and named Monsignor Joseph E. Kurtz, Director of Catholic Charities, Diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania, as Bishop of Knoxville, Tennessee.
Bishop-elect Kurtz succeeds Most Reverend Anthony J. O'Connell who was appointed Bishop of Palm Beach in November, 1998. Bishop Barbarito succeeds Most Reverend Paul S. Loverde who was named Bishop of Arlington, Virginia in January, 1999.
Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, announced the appointments.
Gerald Michael Barbarito was born on January 4, 1950 in Brooklyn.
He was ordained January 31, 1976, after studies at Cathedral College in Douglaston, NY, and the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington. He pursued graduate studies at the Catholic University of America where he earned the Licentiate in Canon Law.
Bishop Barbarito was assistant pastor, St. Helen parish, Howard Beach, assistant Chancellor and Vice Chancellor, and worked on the Appeals Court of the Brooklyn Diocesan Tribunal. He was serving as Secretary to Bishop Thomas V. Daily when he was named Titular Bishop of Gisipa and Auxiliary Bishop of Brooklyn, June 28, 1994.
The Diocese of Ogdensburg was established in 1872. It has a Catholic population of approximately 136,000 in a total population of 430,400.
Joseph E. Kurtz was born in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, on August 18, 1946.
He studied at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia and did post-graduate work at Marywood College in Scranton, where he earned a Masters in Social Work.
Bishop-elect Kurtz was ordained a priest of the Allentown diocese on March 18, 1972.
He served in parochial assignments and taught at St. Pius X Seminary in Dalton, PA. From 1985 to 1991 he was a moderator of the Department of Social Welfare of the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference.
Bishop elect Kurtz was named Director of Catholic Charities in 1988. He has also served as Pastor of Notre Dame of Bethlehem Church in Bethlehem, PA, since 1996.
The Diocese of Knoxville was established in 1988, with Bishop O'Connell as its first Bishop. It has a Catholic population of 43,765 in a total population of 2,012,885.