USCCB - (Office of Media Relations) - Bishop Walter Hurley Named Bishop of Grand Rapids; Resignation of Bishop Straling of Reno Accepted; Auxiliary Bishop Named for Miami

Bishop Walter Hurley Named Bishop of Grand Rapids; Resignation of Bishop Straling of Reno Accepted; Auxiliary Bishop Named for Miami

WASHINGTON (June 21, 2005) - Pope Benedict XVI named Auxiliary Bishop Walter A. Hurley of Detroit to be Bishop of Grand Rapids. Bishop Hurley succeeds Bishop Kevin M. Britt who died May 15, 2004.

The Holy Father accepted the resignation of Bishop Phillip F. Straling of Reno. He appointed Msgr. John G. Noonan, President/Rector of St. John Vianney College Seminary, Archdiocese of Miami, as Auxiliary Bishop of Miami.

Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, made the announcements.

Walter A. Hurley was born May 30, 1937, in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. He attended Sacred Heart Seminary, Detroit, St. John's Seminary, Plymouth, Michigan, where he obtained a Master of Divinity degree, and the Catholic University of America, where he earned the J.C.L. degree in 1984. He was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Detroit, June 5, 1965.

Bishop Hurley was named Titular Bishop of Cunavia and Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit on July 7, 2003.

Established in 1882, the Diocese of Grand Rapids comprises 11 counties of Western Michigan. It has a Catholic population of about 162,670 in a total population of 1,283,717.

Phillip F. Straling was born in San Bernardino, CA, April 25, 1933. He earned a B.A. at the University of San Diego, and an M.S. at San Diego State University, in 1969. After studying at Immaculate Heart Seminary, San Diego, he was ordained a priest of that diocese on March 19, 1959.

Bishop Straling was appointed first Bishop of San Bernardino, July 18, 1978. He was appointed Bishop of Reno on March 21, 1995.

Appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Miami and Titular Bishop of Bonusta, John G. Noonan was born on February 26, 1951, in Limerick, Ireland, where he attended primary and secondary schools.

After his basic education, Msgr. Noonan migrated to the United States where he lived first in New York, then in Florida. He studied at St. John Vianney College Seminary and later at St. Vincent de Paul Seminary.

Bishop-designate Noonan was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Miami on September 23, 1983. Following ordination, he earned a Master's degree in Education at Boston College.

Named President/Rector of St. John Vianney College Seminary in 1996, he is a member of the archdiocesan priest personnel board, the Presbyteral Council, and the College of Consultors.