20 December 2009

Overview: Province of Georgia, North Carolina, & South Carolina

The metropolitan is the Archdiocese of Atlanta with Charleston, Charlotte, Raleigh, and Savannah as suffragan dioceses.

Archbishop Wilton Daniel Gregory (62), Archbishop of Atlanta, Georgia, celebrated his 26th anniversary of his consecration as a bishop just a week ago. He has been in his current post for about 5 years. Until the most recent past-Archbishop (John Francis Donoghue), the see had an unfortunate history of ordinaries dying rather young. God willing, that tradition has been broken.

The Archdiocese received an Auxiliary Bishop (Bishop Luis Rafael Zarama Pasqualetto) a few months ago.

This year saw the naming of Bishop Robert Eric Guglielmone to the diocese of Charleston, South Carolina. He turns 64 later this month.

Charlotte, North Carolina is presided over by Bishop Peter Joseph Jugis (52) for a little over 6 years now. He is the 4th ordinary and by far the youngest. His age and length of service suggest he may be considered for other posts in the next year or two. Although having also served as a priest in this diocese makes that a bit less likely.

Bishop Michael Francis Burbidge (52) is serving as Bishop of Raleigh, North Carolina. This past year he celebrated the 25th anniversary of being ordained a priest. He also seems a likely candidate for another appointment, but not for a few more years.

The diocese of Savannah, Georgia is lead by Bishop John Kevin Boland. This year he celebrated 50 years as a priest. He reaches the normal retirement age of 75 next April.

With the substantial reduction in the backlog of vacant sees and bishops past the retirement age, it is entirely possible that Savannah will receive a new bishop in the coming year.

This province, with the exception of Savannah and possibly Charlotte, is likely to see little change in its hierarchy over the next year or two.

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