Up to 25 U.S. bishops could retire for age reasons in 2007

Published: 2007-01-02

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Up to 25 U.S. bishops, including five cardinals, could retire because of age this year. There are 14 still-active U.S. bishops, including three cardinals, who have already turned 75. Eleven more, including two cardinals, will celebrate their 75th birthday in 2007. At age 75 bishops are requested to submit their resignation to the pope. Cardinal Adam J. Maida of Detroit turned 75 March 18, 2005. He was bishop of Green Bay, Wis., before he was made archbishop of Detroit in 1990. Cardinal William H. Keeler of Baltimore turned 75 last March 4. Formerly bishop of Harrisburg, Pa., he has been archbishop of Baltimore since 1989. Cardinal Bernard F. Law, archpriest of St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome, turned 75 Nov. 4. A former bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Mo., he was archbishop of Boston from 1984 until his resignation in 2002 in the wake of the clergy sex abuse scandal there. Cardinal Edward M. Egan of New York, whose 75th birthday is coming up April 2, will celebrate 50 years as a priest later this year. He was made a New York auxiliary bishop in 1985, bishop of Bridgeport, Conn., in 1988, and archbishop of New York in 2000. Cardinal F. James Stafford, a Baltimore native who will mark his 75th birthday July 26, has been the Vatican's major penitentiary since 2003. He was made a Baltimore auxiliary in 1976 and bishop of Memphis, Tenn., in 1982. He became archbishop of Denver in 1986, and president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, 1996-2003.

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