By Gretchen Keiser

Pope John Paul II has formally appointed as archbishop of Atlanta the bishop who came into the diocese 10 months ago to lead the Church through a difficult scandal.

The archbishop-designate of Atlanta, Bishop James P. Lyke, OFM, will be installed in an archdiocesan celebration June 24 at the Cathedral of Christ the King on his 25th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood.

The smaller scale celebration is appropriate, Bishop Lyke said, because his appointment is not of the historic nature as that of Archbishop Eugene A. Marino, SSJ, three years ago. Also, he said, "I've been here 10 months already, and I already feel installed!"

Fifty-two years old, Bishop Lyke will become the fifth bishop and fourth archbishop of Atlanta, whose 21,000 square-mile expanse is far removed from the south side of Chicago, where he was born and raised, or from the urban region of Cleveland where he served as auxiliary bishop for 11 years.

He acknowledged that his focus since last July, when he became apostolic administrator of Atlanta, has been a "radical change" in his priestly ministry from an activist involvement in the wider community to an intense concentration on the internal workings of the Church.

"I have never in my life been more absorbed in the internal affairs of the Church as I have since I came to Atlanta," he said. "Part of the reason for that is the situation for which I came. The other part of the reason rests in the manifold responsibilities of a bishop within the Catholic Church on the local, national and international level."

While he expects that emphasis to continue, the Franciscan, one of 13 black bishops in the United States, said that he will have to find time to address wider issues also. "A bishop must get involved and bring a Catholic and religious perspective to the moral issues of our time."

Commenting on the announcement of his appointment, he said that he found particular inspiration in the day's reflection on a Franciscan saint, St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen. When he was informed by the pope's representative in the United States, Archbishop Agostino Cacciavillan, of his appointment it was April 24, the saint's feast. Bishop Lyke said he found in the reading what he hoped would be the core of his teaching and service, "service to the poor in a spirit of mercy and justice, and zeal for promoting the Catholic faith."

The appointment, he said, made him "happy, but I think people would understand why I'm not excited, because I've been ministering for 10 months already. I have met all the priests. I have been to every parish. Everything is now formal."

While the installation Mass will be June 24, he will be Archbishop Lyke as of Friday morning, May 3, when he is scheduled to present his papal letter of appointment to an archdiocesan priest advisory group, the College of Consultors. When the letter is accepted, he becomes the archbishop of Atlanta. Normally, when an archbishop-designate is appointed from outside the diocese, that action takes place the night before the installation Mass.

Since July, he succeeded in living up to a promise to visit every parish, mission and Catholic institution by Christmas 1990. He also distributed in English and Spanish a poetic reflection on the value of life for the October Respect Live celebration.

An audit of the financial records of the archdiocese during Archbishop Marino's term, and of several parishes that aided Vicki Long, was completed and released in December.

A few weeks later, Bishop Lyke revealed that he needed surgery to remove his right kidney and a tumor on it, that was later determined to be malignant. Following about four to six weeks of recuperation, he returned to a full schedule.

Asked about his health, the archbishop-designate said he was still waiting for permission to resume an exercise program, but otherwise was at a pre-surgery level of activity. Normally a jogger, he has been confined to walking in recent months.

When he became apostolic administrator, he said questions about his vision for the archdiocese were premature. Now, Bishop Lyke refers to the Vision and Mission Statement that he drafted and circulated to parishes for comment and revision last fall and winter.

"I feel the statement represents our vision for the Church of God in Atlanta," he said, adding that "our fundamental vision and mission statement is the Sacred Scripture, particularly the Gospels, and the Church's meditation and extrapolation of that Biblical vision for our time which is cast in the documents of the Second Vatican Council."

While his appointment brings closure to the vacancy created by Archbishop Marino's resignation, he said the "people of the Church of North Georgia are the best ones" to ascertain the extent of the healing that has taken place.

"What has happened is a part of the history of the archdiocese," Bishop Lyke said. "What we must do is acknowledge it, incorporate it into our prayerful reflection and seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit as to how we should proceed into the future."

"I find it unfortunate," he added, "that the media consistently omits two notable and pervasive factors -- the deep and strong faith of the people, and their continued and strong love for Archbishop Marino and their forgiveness that flows from that love. In my opinion the headlines are wrong and do not capture the power of the gospel to touch people's hearts ... I have yet to go to any function or parish community that someone, or more than one, does not approach me, sometimes in tears, asking about the archbishop."

His statement of acceptance assured Archbishop Marino of the "unending affection and prayers" of the priests and people of the archdiocese.

While Archbishop-Designate Lyke become the highest-ranking black bishop in the U.S. with this appointment, he anticipates a diminished pressure on him to be a symbol for African-American Catholics.

"The appointment itself demands that I be a voice for the total black Catholic community and I am on record as being such a voice," he said. Unlike the attention generated when Archbishop Marino became the first black to hold the office of archbishop, Bishop Lyke anticipates having more control over those demands. "Respectfully, I say I am not as kind as he is and I can say 'no' quicker."

The leadership role of black bishops is a topic on which the new archbishop was outspoken many years ago. In 1979 he wrote an opposing piece to an editorial in Our Sunday Visitor that had opposed Vatican consideration of ethnic identity in choosing who should become a bishop.

Then a priest, he wrote, "The failure of the Roman Catholic Church to produce indigenous black bishops, priests and religious is the clearest example of its racism and the primary reason why more black people are not part of its membership."

His own elevation to the post of bishop came two months later when he was appointed an auxiliary bishop of Cleveland.

Asked to reflect upon his 1979 comment in 1991, when he had just been appointed archbishop of Atlanta, he said he believed his words were "still true," but that in ensuing years "I have not only recognized, but applauded the progress that has been made" in the church. A 1989 response Bishop Lyke made to questions raised by Father George Stallings when he formed an African-American Church pointed out a number of ways in which the Catholic Church had fostered racial sensitivity and took issue with blanket charges of racism.

The archbishop-designate also said that he did not think it appropriate for a diocese to be linked to a bishop of a particular racial or ethnic background.

"When I was personally asked whether it was important to have a black bishop appointed to succeed Archbishop Marino," he said, "I responded in the negative because it is my conviction that no diocese in the United States should be linked to a bishop of a particular ethnic or racial background."

"At the same time," he said, "African-American or Hispanic or Asian or Indian bishops should be seen as capable of presiding over a diocese whether that diocese includes people of their own ethnic background in large numbers or not." Recently the pope departed from past practice and appointed a bishop who is not of Polish descent to Green Bay, Wisconsin, he noted as an example.

The archbishop-designate became Catholic when he was in grade school, after his mother transferred him to a Catholic school to make sure he brought homework home at night. The son of Amos and Ora Sneed Lyke, he was one of seven children. In an April America interview, he said he counts his mother as one of his heroes because of her sacrifices to help him and the rest of the children when they were growing up in a Chicago housing project.

"My mother was on welfare, and she recognized that I needed to be in a better educational situation than an overcrowded public school. She washed church laundry to pay my tuition at school. For me she's a hero," he said.

Eventually his family, except one sibling, became Catholic.

He entered a minor seminary in high school and the Franciscan novitiate in Teutopolis, IL. He made his solemn profession as a member of the Franciscans in 1959 and was ordained to the priesthood June 24, 1966. He was ordained auxiliary bishop of Cleveland August 1, 1979.