World News
Outgoing Catholic University president to become coadjutor of Trenton
Published: June 7, 2010
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The outgoing president of The Catholic University of America, Vincentian Father David O'Connell, has been named coadjutor bishop of Trenton, N.J., by Pope Benedict XVI. The appointment was announced June 4 in Washington by Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States. Bishop-designate O'Connell, 55, is a native of Philadelphia who attended St. Joseph Preparatory High School in Princeton, N.J., and colleges in New York and Pennsylvania before his ordination for the Vincentians in 1982. As coadjutor he will automatically succeed Trenton Bishop John M. Smith upon his retirement. On June 23, Bishop Smith will turn 75, the mandatory age at which bishops must submit their retirement. Bishop-designate O'Connell has been president of Catholic University since 1998. In October he announced his intent to step down at the end of the school year, which ended in May. His episcopal ordination is scheduled for July 30 at St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral in Trenton. He has asked Bishop Smith to be his consecrator, to be assisted by Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark, N.J., and Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl of Washington, Catholic University chancellor. "Trenton has been a second home to me," Bishop-designate O'Connell said at a June 4 news conference in Trenton after the announcement of his appointment.
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