Bishop Ricken to Denver?

A list of possible candidates for the Denver metropolitan vacancy(from a friend who's been watching).

Bishop Nickless of Sioux City, IA
Ricken of Green Bay, WI
Vlazny of Portland, formerly of Winona, MN
Campbell of Columbus, formerly Auxiliary in St. Paul - Minneapolis, MN

The Upper Midwest has been on a roll: We have Archbishops in Anchorage, Portland, NYC, Cincinnati, and a Bishop in San Diego.

One blogger thinks the leading candidate is Bishop Samuel Aquila of Fargo, ND.

Bishop Aquila, currently the Ordinary of the Fargo Diocese, is no stranger to Denver-- in fact, he was first ordained there. He was also the first rector of the Seminary in Denver, after ++Chaput re-opened it.

Naturally, Bishop Aquila has spent a bit of time in Rome. Since his ordination as Bishop, he has absolutely transformed North Dakota during his tenure there. With a specialization in liturgy, and also with great experience in catechesis (he has been on a USCCB committee for both), it is no surprise that Fargo Diocese is doing as well as it is.

In addition, he is a staunch defender of human life, and no stranger to entering into the Public Forum, either.

For all of these reasons, not that my own opinion makes any difference, I think he would be an excellent candidate to fill the void that Archbishop Chaput has left in the Mile High City. Given the raised profile of the Church in Denver, the candidate would have to be someone of the caliber of Bishop Aquila, and also someone of his knowledge of the mid-west and mountain regions.

As for a date for announcing this, just to keep it interesting...I wouldn't be at all surprised if whoever the successor is going to be is announced before Christmas of this year, perhaps even as early as the beginning of October; however, I am sure that the passing of our beloved Nuncio may have slowed down things a bit.

Catholic teachers in Philadelphia on strike

It's for the children. Wait, that won't work, since the kids are missing school. It's for the public good. Ummm... for the good of the Church? Right?

Photo: Catholic teachers picketing students' first day of school in Philadelphia today. If it's not about the money... What a disgrace.

Catholic News Agency:

Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput may become involved in ending a Catholic high school teacher's strike, though the archdiocese says he will not take any action until after his installation.

“I'm not averse at all to becoming involved personally, in a direct way, if that's good for our schools and good for our teachers," the recently-appointed archbishop told CBS 3 reporter Pat Ciarrocchi. Shortly after his arrival in the city, unionized Catholic high school teachers rejected a contract offer and announced they were on strike as of Sept. 6.

But the archdiocese's Associate Director of Communications Kenneth Gavin told CNA that if Archbishop Chaput does intervene, it would not occur until after his Sept. 8 installation [today]. The teachers' union says it will not picket the installation [how considerate of them] – expected to draw up to 1,500 guests, including 700 cardinals, bishops, priests, deacons, and seminarians – out of respect for the archbishop [and has nothing to do with the bad press that Catholic teachers picketing a Catholic archbishop would get, right?].

Archdiocesan Communications Specialist Meredith Wilson said that negotiations with the teachers would begin the next day, even though church officials “wanted them to start today.” The meetings are slated to last through Sept. 12, with a break on Saturday [what about Sunday?].

As of Sept. 6, the archdiocese and its unionized high school teachers had failed to agree not only on a future contract, but also on the matter of what had caused the strike.

Read the rest of the article here. Read the Archdiocese's letter to parents here. Archbishop Chaput certainly has his work cut out for him.

I would ask why there is a Catholic teachers' union, but perhaps that answer is a little too obvious.

Philadelphia's new archbishop

You know what the headlines are likely to be: "Pope names arch-conservative to Philadelphia," or "Hard-liner to take over Philly church." Are you really an arch-conservative and a hard-liner?

I actually don't see myself as a conservative at all. I try to be faithful to the church's teaching, as the church has handed it on to us. I don't feel that as a Christian or as a bishop I have a right to play with that tradition, which is the apostolic tradition of the church ... As an example, I certainly want to be faithful to the Holy Father and his teaching about the traditional expression of the Roman liturgy in the Tridentine form. I supported that and will continue to support that. It isn't, however, my personal interest or direction.

NCR - Exclusive interview with Archbishop Charles Chaput

Everyone else is covering this pretty close.  If you want more info, you can check out NewAdvent for the latest.

Also Regnum Novum has a great 2008 interview of Archbishop Chaput by Peter Robinson.

HT Man with Black Hat