By Gretchen Keiser

Archbishop James P. Lyke, OFM, has asked Monsignor Edward Dillon to assume the administrative work of the archdiocese and appointed Father Donald Kenny as chancellor to assist him.

The archbishop formally made the assignments September 25, citing his health as the reason for giving this responsibility to Monsignor Dillon, his vicar general, and to Father Kenny.

In giving the directive, the archbishop said Monsignor Dillon's role would extend until "my health permits me to resume" the administrative role personally again.

In naming Father Kenny, the 43-year-old vocations director of the archdiocese, as chancellor, Archbishop Lyke said it would be in addition to his other roles. Full-time head of the vocations program, Father Kenny also serves as Secretary for Particular Ministries, overseeing the pro-life office and the office of the permanent diaconate.

Since coming to the archdiocese in July, 1990, Archbishop Lyke has personally administered the Catholic Center offices and secretariats, choosing not to appoint a chancellor, or to assign the vicar general the additional role of coordinating the central offices as moderator of the curia. Secretaries of the various agencies have met directly with Archbishop Lyke as necessary.

Monsignor Dillon said September 25 that the directives amount to "a shifting of the workload" from the archbishop and are not a transfer of authority.

"The archbishop tires so easily that he is not able to be a strong administrative presence at the Catholic Center," Monsignor Dillon said. The archbishop "has a limited reserve of strength and it is important that we husband that strength."

The directive does not make him the administrator of the archdiocese, Monsignor Dillon said, a role he took for a few months in 1990 when Archbishop Eugene A. Marino, SSJ, left the archdiocese prior to his resignation.

Archbishop Lyke and Monsignor Dillon meet weekly and talk daily, the vicar general said, a process that will continue and perhaps intensify now. However, the daily administration, and specifically the contact between heads of archdiocesan offices and secretariats, and the archbishop, will now be directed first to Monsignor Dillon.

The archbishop, who recently visited Catholic Center staff, and several hundred people taking part in the archdiocesan Catechetical Institute, will personally attend critical meetings and pastoral events. Among those are the Clergy Personnel board, the Priests Council, and the installation of Capuchin Franciscans at St. Anthony's parish in the West End.

He met with Catholic Center department heads September 29.

Father Kenny said his role as chancellor will be to assist Monsignor Dillon as requested "in the day to day administration of the Catholic Center."

"I would see it as a temporary position until things return to normal," Father Kenny said. He said his understanding is that his primary role remains that of vocations director.

Currently the archdiocese has 50 men studying for the priesthood, and nine ordinations are scheduled to take place between Christmas of 1992 and the following December.

Ordained in December 1984, Father Kenny has served as a parochial vicar at St. Joseph's in Athens and as dean of students at St. Pius X High School for four years. He became the first full-time vocations director of the archdiocese in 1990 and also resides at Hallinan House, the archbishop's residence.

A native of Ireland, he graduated from Maynooth with degrees in history and philosophy and took further studies in education. He taught for eight years in London before entering All Hallows College in Dublin in 1980 as seminarian for the archdiocese of Atlanta, receiving a degree in theology in 1983.