Archbishop Sheehan elected USCCB secretary

Published: 2003-11-12

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan of Santa Fe, N.M., is the new secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Archbishop Sheehan, who also is apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Phoenix, was elected Nov. 11 during the second day of the U.S. bishops' fall general meeting in Washington. He defeated Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala of Los Angeles on a 152-104 vote. He succeeds Bishop William B. Friend of Shreveport, La., who completed a three-year term. Archbishop Sheehan, a 64-year-old native of Wichita, Kan., was ordained a priest of what was then the Diocese of Dallas-Fort Worth in 1964 and appointed the first bishop of Lubbock, Texas, in 1983. He was transferred to Santa Fe 10 years later and was named to administer the Phoenix Diocese in June after now-retired Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien was charged with leaving the scene of a fatal hit-and-run accident.

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