Welcome Bishop Ronald W. Gainer! The eleventh Bishop of the Diocese of Harrisburg introduced himself as a shepherd dedicated to the sanctification and ministry of his people. This edition of The Catholic Witness covers Bishop Gainer's first interaction with the diocese.

Click here to view the electronic edition of The Catholic Witness for January 31, 2014

The latest edition of the SJA Parish Newsletter is now available.

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Video Link: http://www.ucatholic.com/apologetics/anti-catholic-prejudice/

The Very Reverend Robert M. Gillelan, Jr., Diocesan Administrator, has announced that Pope Francis has named Most Reverend Ronald W. Gainer, 66, as the eleventh bishop of the Diocese of Harrisburg. He succeeds Bishop Joseph P. McFadden, who died, May 2, 2013.

Bishop Gainer will be introduced at a news conference at the Cardinal Keeler Center, 4800 Union Deposit Road, Harrisburg, PA 17111 at 10:00 a.m. today.  

Bishop Gainer was born August 24, 1947, in Pottsville, PA. After studies for the priesthood he was ordained a Priest for the diocese of Allentown on May 19, 1973. He was consecrated and installed as Bishop of Lexington, KY on February 22, 2003.

He will be installed as Bishop of Harrisburg on Wednesday, March 19.

Bishop Gainer completed studies at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia in 1973, earning a Master of Divinity degree, summa cum laude and has earned a licentiate degree in Canon Law and a diploma in Latin Letter from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 1986.

For much of his Priesthood Bishop Gainer served in parish, campus ministry, marriages and family, and tribunal positions. As Secretary of Catholic Life and Evangelization for the Diocese of Allentown he supervised 14 diocesan offices and the promotion of the works of spiritual renewal and evangelization.

On the national level, Bishop Gainer is a member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Administrative Committee and Committee on Priorities and Planning. He has served as Chair of the Region V of the USCCB as well as having served on the Committee on Catholic Education, the Committee for Canonical Affairs and Church Governance, as well as a regional representative to the USCCB Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People, and liaison with the North American Forum on the Catechumenate. He is also on the Sacred Heart School of Theology Board of Directors.

 The Diocese of Harrisburg comprises 15 counties in Central PA, including: Adams, Columbia, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon, Mifflin, Montour, Northumberland, Perry, Snyder, Union and York. The Diocese has 249,238 registered Catholics.

 Click here for more information on Bishop Ronald Gainer

Source Link: http://www.hbgdiocese.org/2014/01/24/most-reverend-ronald-w-gainer-appointed-eleventh-bishop-of-harrisburg/

Some notes from Bishop-elect Bishop Gainer's press conference:

Full article: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2014/01/bishop_gainer_harrisburg_dioce.html

The bus scheduled for the March for Life tomorrow has been cancelled. Please pray for the people who will be in DC for the march.