Housekeeping Notes

Yesterday's double retirement-appointment of the bishops of Philadelphia and Savannah prompted at least one person following USCCB on Facebook to ask why these two bishops -- Philadelphia's Cardinal Rigali and Savannah's Bishop Boland -- resigned. The answer is pretty simple: both had reached, or rather passed, the mandatory retirement age for bishops, 75. Both men are 76 years old and were the senior active bishops heading U.S. dioceses.

USCCB offers a resource on the process of naming a successor to a retiring bishop here.

The moves yesterday in Philadelphia and Savannah (and Denver) certainly impacted the national list of dioceses with bishops serving past the retirement age (reducing it from

9 to 7) and, thanks to Archbishop Chaput being pulled out of Denver, increased the number of U.S. dioceses currently vacant -- that is, not headed by a bishop-ordinary -- from 7 to 8.

For a snapshot of where this stands, the dioceses with bishops serving past the retirement age are currently (from oldest to youngest):

• Manchester, New Hampshire -- Bishop John McCormack turns 76 next month
• Lincoln, Nebraska -- Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz turns 76 in September
• Bismark, North Dakota -- Bishop Paul Zipfel also turns 76 in September
• Rockford, Illionois -- Bishop Thomas Doran turned 75 in February
• Buffalo, New York -- Bishop Edward Kmiec turned 75 in June
• San Francisco -- Archbishop George Niederauer turned 75 in June
• Erie, Pennsylvania -- Bishop Donald Trautman turned 75 in June

Vacant dioceses -- from longest vacancy to most recent -- are:

• Pittsburgh (Byzantine) -- since June 10, 2010 death of Archbishop Basil Schott, OFM
• Fresno, California -- since December 5, 2010 death of Bishop John Steinbock
• Salina, Kansas -- since December 16, 2010 appointment of Bishop Paul Coakley as archbishop of Oklahoma City
• Baker, Oregon -- since January 24 appointment of Bishop Robert Vasa to Santa Rosa, California
• Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida -- since March 11 retirement of Bishop John Ricard, SSJ
• Steubenville, Ohio -- since May 17 appointment of Bishop Robert Conlon to Joliet, Illinois
• Tyler, Texas -- since July 6 appointment of Bishop Alvaro Corrada del Rio, SJ to Mayaguez, Puerto Rico
• Denver -- since July 19 appointment of Archbishop Charles Chaput, OFM Cap. to Philadelphia

As always, hat tip to David Cheney.