Coadjutor Bishop Named for Vermont

WASHINGTON — A priest of the Diocese of Providence, R.I., currently on the staff of the Vatican Embassy in Washington has been named coadjutor bishop of Burlington, Vt., by Pope John Paul II.

The priest, Msgr. Salvatore Matano, will become head of the Burlington Diocese upon the death or retirement of the current head of the diocese, Bishop Kenneth Angell, 74. Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, apostolic nuncio to the United States, announced the appointment in Washington March 3.

Bishop-designate Matano’s ordination was set for April 18. From 1991 to 1992, he served in Washington at the apostolic nunciature (Vatican Embassy), and returned to the Providence Diocese to become vicar general and moderator of the Curia in 1992. Bishop-designate Matano served as a lecturer for graduate and undergraduate students at Providence College and was named pastor of St. Sebastian Parish in Providence in 1997, serving there until resuming his post at the nunciature in Washington in 2000.

(CNS)

Chicago Archdiocese to Close 23 Schools This Year

CHICAGO — Twenty-three city and suburban elementary schools in the Chicago Archdiocese will close their doors at the end of the school year as part of a restructuring plan, archdiocesan officials announced during a Feb. 24 press conference.

“The Church and this archdiocese are still committed to Catholic education,” Chicago Cardinal Francis George said at the press conference at the archdiocesan pastoral center, “but the resources are limited. What this plan will give us is a responsible way to face the future.”

The restructuring plan also includes the consolidation of Catholic schools in the Chicago suburb of Waukegan — a move planned and announced last year — and the merger of one Catholic school into another in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood. In addition, two multi-campus elementary schools will close two of their sites, but keep at least one campus open. The closures will affect 4,157 students and about 500 teachers, administrators and other staff members, according to the archdiocesan Office for Catholic Schools.

(CNS)

St. Louis Shuttering Parishes and Schools

ST. LOUIS — The Archdiocese of St. Louis has announced a parish consolidation plan that will result in the closing of 24 parishes and 10 elementary schools.

The closings follow an 18-month planning process that included consultation and several drafts of the plan from a committee of lay people and priests in two of the archdiocese’s 10 deaneries. One is the South City Deanery, in the southern half of the city of St. Louis, and the other is the Northeast County Deanery, an older suburban area in St. Louis County. The Northeast County Deanery’s 25 parishes are being consolidated into 11, and its 15 elementary schools merged into nine, under the plan approved by Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis.

The consolidation plan for South City Deanery will result in the closing of 10 of its 35 parishes and four of its 18 elementary schools.

(CNS)