SAN DIEGO — Archbishop-designate Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco today apologized and asked forgiveness for the disgrace he brought upon the Church and himself by being arrested for drunk driving.

“I apologize for my error in judgment and feel shame for the disgrace I have brought upon the Church and myself. I will repay my debt to society, and I ask forgiveness from my family and my friends and co-workers at the Diocese of Oakland and the Archdiocese of San Francisco," Archbishop Cordileone said in an Aug. 27 statement.

“I pray that God, in his inscrutable wisdom, will bring some good out of this,” he added.

According to the archbishop-designate, the incident occurred after he had dinner Aug. 24 in San Diego with some of his friends and a priest friend who was visiting from overseas.

His mother was also at the dinner. While the archbishop was driving his mother to her house, which is located near San Diego State University, he passed through a DUI checkpoint the police had set up.

After passing through a DUI checkpoint, the former bishop of Oakland, Calif., was further evaluated by the police and then taken into custody just after midnight Aug. 25.

San Diego police spokesman Detective Gary Hassen said that Archbishop-designate Cordileone he was released on bail just before noon that same day. The legal blood-alcohol-content limit for California is 0.08%.

Pope Benedict XVI named Archbishop-designate Cordileone the successor to Archbishop George Niederauer on July 27. He will officially become the San Francisco archbishop at his Oct. 4 installation.