Back Home, A Jubilee

Good morning, River City....

Tough loss on the field last night... Must-Win on the ice later on...

...and now, it is announced from Rome that B16 has retired the much-loved Bishop Bob Maginnis, now 76, naming Msgr John McIntyre, 46 -- secretary to the Pharaohs since 1999 -- to succeed him as auxiliary of Philadelphia.

(The good bishop-elect's shown above right, in cassock, MCing a 2007 Mass.)

As noted earlier, the move comes on the now-traditional 8 June, this year's marking the silver jubilee of Cardinal Justin Rigali's elevation to the episcopacy.

A high-school teacher before entering the seminary -- and, for a time, a Redemptorist novice in the footsteps of St John Neumann -- McIntyre's appointment gives the eight archbishop his fifth auxiliary since his 2003 arrival. While Rigali reached the retirement age of 75 last 19 April, today's move underscores that no movement is expected on the archbishop's chair for the foreseeable future.

The bishop-elect's ordination has been set for Transfiguration Day, Friday, 6 August.... And for all your other Appointment Day needs, a portal with statements, releases and the like is up and running.

PHOTO: Daniel Good/Flickr

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