World News
Pope names vicar general of Oklahoma City to head diocese in Kansas
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI has named the vicar general of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, Msgr. Edward J. Weisenburger, to head the Diocese of Salina, Kan. Bishop-designate Weisenburger, 51, succeeds Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, who was appointed Oklahoma City's archbishop in December 2010. The appointment was announced Feb. 6 in Washington by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, apostolic nuncio to the United States. Bishop-designate Weisenburger's ordination and installation as 11th bishop of Salina was set for 2 p.m. May 1 at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Salina. It was to be followed by a public reception at the Bicentennial Center in Salina. Edward J. Weisenburger was born Dec. 23, 1960, in Alton, Ill. He spent two years of his childhood in Hays, Kan., but grew up primarily in Lawton, Okla., where he graduated from Eisenhower High School in 1979. "Even though this is a new and surprising turn of events, I very much feel this is a homecoming," he said at a Feb. 6 news conference in Salina. "I feel very blessed to be called here." Referring to his upcoming 25th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood, he said, "I am unabashedly a huge fan of the priesthood. It's been a wild, roller-coaster experience, never dull, filled with blessings and, best of all, intense meaning. I've always viewed the priesthood as an incredible privilege, one undeserved in my case. But I finally had to accept that God oftentimes chooses the frail, the ordinary and the weak and then does some pretty good work of his own."
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