Nday Kanyangu Lukundwe retired, Ngoy wa Mpanga named Kongolo Bishop

Bishop Jérôme Nday Kanyangu Lukundwe retired and Bishop-elect Oscar Ngoy wa Mpanga, C.S.Sp. was named Bishop of Kongolo, Congo (Dem. Rep.).

Bhalerao resigned as Nashik Bishop

Bishop Thomas Bhalerao, S.J. resigned as Bishop of Nashik, India.

Ri Moun-hi resigned, Choi Young-su succeeded as Daegu Archbishop

Archbishop Paul Ri Moun-hi resigned and Archbishop John Choi Young-su succeeded as Archbishop of Daegu {Taegu}, Korea (South). Archbishop Choi Young-su had been serving as Coadjutor Archbishop of the same archdiocese.

Hastenteufel named Novo Hamburgo Bishop

Bishop Zeno Hastenteufel was named Bishop of Novo Hamburgo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The diocese had been vacant since then-Bishop Osvino José Both was named Archbishop of the Military in Brazil in June 2006. Bishop Hastenteufel had been serving as Bishop of Frederico Westphalen.

Archbishop Ward Died

Archbishop John Aloysius Ward, O.F.M. Cap., Archbishop Emeritus of Cardiff, Wales, Great Britain, has died. He was 78 years old and had served as a priest for 53 years and as a bishop for 26 years. May he rest in peace.

Domínguez Couttolenc named Tlapa Bishop

Bishop-elect Oscar Roberto Domínguez Couttolenc, M.G. was named Bishop of Tlapa, México. The diocese had been vacant since Bishop Alejo Zavala Castro was named Bishop of Chilpancingo-Chilapa in February 2006.

Tembo Nlandu named Budjala Coadjutor

Bishop-elect Philibert Tembo Nlandu, C.I.C.M. was named Coadjutor Bishop of Budjala, Congo (Dem. Rep.). Bishop Joseph Bolangi Egwanga Ediba Tasame remains the Ordinary.

Chakkalapadickal named Tiruvalla Archbishop

Archbishop-designate Thomas Koorilos Chakkalapadickal was named Archbishop of Tiruvalla (Malankarese), India. The archdiocese had been vacant since then-Archbishop Isaac Cleemis Thottunkal was named Major Archbishop of Trivandrum (Malankarese) in February 2007. Archbishop-designate Chakkalapadickal had been serving as Bishop of Muvattupuzha (Malankarese).

Archbishop Saint-Macary Died, d'Ornellas succeeded as Rennes Archbishop

Archbishop François de Sales Marie Adrien Saint-Macary, Archbishop of Rennes (, Dol, e Saint-Malo), France, has died. He was 71 years old and had served as a priest for 46 years and as a bishop for 24 years. May he rest in peace.

Archbishop Pierre d'Ornellas succeeded as Archbishop of Rennes (, Dol, e Saint-Malo). He had been serving as Coadjutor Archbishop of the same archdiocese.

Bishop Romero Pose Died

Bishop Eugenio Romero Pose, Auxiliary Bishop of Madrid, Spain, has died. He had turned 58 just 10 days earlier. He had served as a priest for 32 years and had celebrated his 10th anniversary of being named a bishop earlier in the month. May he rest in peace.

Mendoza Corzo named Tuxtla Gutiérrez Auxiliary

Bishop-elect José Mendoza Corzo was named Auxiliary Bishop of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, México and titular bishop of Lamiggiga.

Cho Hwan-Kil named Daegu Auxiliary

Bishop-elect Thaddeus Cho Hwan-Kil was named Auxiliary Bishop of Daegu {Taegu}, Korea (South) and titular bishop of Abbir Maius.

Pierre named Nuncio to Mexico

Archbishop Christophe Pierre was named Apostolic Nuncio to México. The post had been vacant since Archbishop Giuseppe Bertello was named Apostolic Nuncio to Italy in January 2007. Archbishop Pierre had been serving as Apostolic Nuncio to Uganda.

Ganda retired as Freetown and Bo Archbishop

Archbishop Joseph Henry Ganda retired as Archbishop of Freetown and Bo, Sierra Leone.

Smith named Edmonton Archbishop

Archbishop-designate Richard William Smith was named Archbishop of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The archdiocese had been vacant since Archbishop Thomas Christopher Collins was named Archbishop of Toronto in December 2006. Archbishop-designate had been serving as Bishop of Pembroke.

Archbishop Arokiasamy Died

Archbishop Marianus Arokiasamy, Archbishop Emeritus of Madurai, India, has died. He was 79 years old and had served as a priest for 52 years and as a bishop for 36 years. May he rest in peace.

Scherer named São Paulo Archbishop

Archbishop-designate Odilo Pedro Scherer was named Archbishop of São Paulo, Brazil. The archdiocese has been vacant since Cláudio Cardinal Hummes, O.F.M. was named Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy in October 2006. Archbishop-designate Scherer had been serving as an Auxiliary Bishop of the same archdiocese.

Mrzljak named Varaždin Bishop

Bishop Josip Mrzljak was named Bishop of Varaždin, Croatia. The diocese had been vacant since the death of Bishop Marko Culej in August 2006. Bishop Mrzljak had been serving as an Auxiliary Bishop of Zagreb.

Archbishop Rozario Died

Archbishop Michael Rozario, Archbishop Emeritus of Dhaka, Bangladesh, has died. He was 81 years old and had served as a priest for 50 years and served as a bishop for 38 years. May he rest in peace.

Bishop Murphy Died

Bishop Patrick Laurence Murphy, Bishop Emeritus of Broken Bay, Australia, has died. He was 86 years old and had served as a priest for 62 years and as a bishop for 30 years. May he rest in peace.

Archbishop Magnoni Died

Archbishop Antonio Magnoni, Apostolic Pro-Nuncio Emeritus to the Arab Republic of Egypt, has died. He was 87 years old and had served as a priest for 63 years and as a bishop for 26 years. May he rest in peace.

Archbishop Franić Died

Archbishop Frane Franić, Archbishop Emeritus of Split-Makarska, Croatia, has died. He was 94 years old and had served as a priest for 70 years and as a bishop for 56 years. May he rest in peace.

History and Time Line of the Project

This year is the 10th anniversary of the beginning of the Catholic-Hierarchy project. For those interested, here's a quick overview:

• early 1997: The beginning: consisted of 3 manually created pages. "Who's New" (list of bishop changes in the US), "Open Sees" (list of vacant US dioceses), and "Age Limit" (list of US bishops at or near the age limit).
  
• March 1999: Automation: the basic framework is created in Paradox (a database program) to support basic information on both current bishops and dioceses in the US. It was renamed "CITUS" (Church in the United States).
  
• April 2000: History: structures were added to support changes in dioceses over time (i.e., name changes, elevations, etc.). In addition a method of storing yearly data on dioceses was added.
  
• June 2000: Name changed to "CCINA" (Catholic Church in North America) since it now covered Canada and Mexico in addition to the US.
  
• August 2001: Going South: "CCISA" (Catholic Church in South America) created as a second site but based on the same database code. The following year it is merged with CCINA to create "CCITA" (Catholic Church in the Americas).
  
• August 2001: the first "Group" is created to announce changes.
  
• Spring 2002: Going Across the Pond: "CCIE" (Catholic Church in Europe) is created as a separate site. Later in the year "CCIAA" (Catholic Church in Africa and Asia) was also created as a separate site.
  
• May 2002: New Name: "Catholic-Hierarchy" was chosen and registered.
  
• August 2002: Unification: CCIE and CCIAA were finally complete enough to merge into the main website. Catholic-Hierarchy now covered the entire world. It has entries for 8,700 bishops and 5,300 dioceses.
  
• November 2002: The major roman curia offices and diplomatic posts were added.
  
• 2002 Overview: During 211,000 visits, folks saw 1.5 million web pages. As more historical information is added the site now has over 11,000 bishop entries.
  
• June 2003: Bishop Lineage: With many thanks to Charles Bransom for most of the data, initial support is added for episcopal lineages.
  
• 2003 Overview: During 1 millions visits, folks saw 7 million web pages.
  
• Spring 2004: Titular Dioceses are now handled like real dioceses with their own pages, etc. This expands the number of diocese entries to over 8,000.
  
• Summer 2004: Support for Cardinal Titles was added.
  
• 2004 Overview: During 1.3 million visits, folks saw 8.9 million web pages.
  
• Spring 2005: In part because of the death of Pope John Paul II and the election of Pope Benedict XVI, a number of additional pages were added covering popes.
  
• Fall 2005: New menu scheme added to make it easier to find things on the site.
  
• October 2005: This blog is introduced to announce changes on the website. It mostly gives a quick overview of bishop changes.
  
• 2005 Overview: During 2.1 million visits, folks viewed 14 million web pages. The large uptick was largely due to the massive traffic related to the Papal death and election.
  
• July 2006: As more historical data is added, the site now covers more than 20,000 bishops.
  
• 2006 Overview: Very close to 2005, during 2 million visits, folks viewed 14 million web pages.
  
• 2007 Overview: Not much change from the previous year: during 2 million visits, folks viewed 14.5 million web pages.
  
• July 2008: the site receives visit number 10,000,000 since getting its own domain in May 2002. (There are very few statistics available before that time.)
  
• Grand Overview (as of November 2008): Since May 2002 when proper stats were first collected, the site has received over 10.6 million visits with folks seeing 72.6 million web pages. The site has over 24,000 bishop entries (15,000 of those have at least some lineage information) and 8,800 diocese entries.
  

Obscure Bug Fix

There were no announcements from the Vatican again today - so I had the time to explore and fix an obscure bug. Sometimes an old title would re-appear as a current secondary title, a recent example was the newly named Archbishop of Eger, Csaba Ternyák. His page was incorrectly stating that he remained an Auxiliary Bishop even though he lost that title about 10 years ago. The bug is now fixed (hopefully) and the pages effected (less than 100 bishops out of 21,000) have been updated. If you happen to notice any other pages with this or similar errors, please let me know.

Seregély retired, Ternyák named Eger Archbishop

Archbishop István Seregély retired and Archbishop Csaba Ternyák was named Archbishop of Eger, Hungary. Archbishop Ternyák had been serving as the Secretary of the Congregation for the Clergy.

Szabó resigned as Military Ordinary for Hungary

Bishop Tamás Szabó resigned as Bishop of Hungary, Military.

Bishop Lecumberri Erburu Died

Bishop Miguel Angel Lecumberri Erburu, O.C.D., Vicar Apostolic Emeritus of Tumaco, Colombia, has died. He was 82 years old and had served as a priest for 58 years and as a bishop for 40 years. May he rest in peace.

Simanullang named Sibolga Bishop

Bishop-elect Ludovikus Simanullang, O.F.M. Cap. was named Bishop of Sibolga, Indonesia. The diocese had been vacant since then-Bishop Anicetus Bongsu Antonius Sinaga, O.F.M. Cap. was named Coadjutor Archbishop of Medan in January 2004.

Martínez Castilla named Ciudad Lázaro Cárdenas Bishop

Bishop-elect Fabio Martínez Castilla was named Bishop of Ciudad Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán, México. The diocese had been vacant since the resignation of Bishop Salvador Flores Huerta in September 2006.

On Time Zones and Daylight Savings Time

I just wanted to warn ya'll about the upcoming (tomorrow, Sunday, morning) change in the US to Daylight Savings Time. Unfortunately Europe (specifically Rome) doesn't change to Daylight Savings Time until 2 weeks hence. The net effect is that by the time the daily press releases come out in Rome, I'll already be at my day job. Thus updates to the website, listservs, and blog will generally be delayed until the afternoon (US time) rather than the normal early morning updates.

In addition, the "very busy" time of year for my day job is rapidly approaching. So even after the clocks are back in sync, posting delays will probably occur more often for the next 6 to 8 weeks.

Bertolone named Cassano all'Jonio Bishop

Bishop-elect Vincenzo Bertolone, S.d.P. was named Bishop of Cassano all'Jonio, Italy. The diocese had been vacant since then-Bishop Domenico Graziani was named Archbishop of Crotone-Santa Severina in November 2006.

Governo resigned as Quelimane Bishop

Bishop Bernardo Filipe Governo, O.F.M. Cap. resigned as Bishop of Quelimane, Mozambique.

Pillolla retired, Zedda named Iglesias Bishop

Bishop Tarcisio Pillolla retired and Bishop-elect Giovanni Paolo Zedda was named Bishop of Iglesias, Italy.

de Faria retired, Cavaco Carrilho named Funchal Bishop

Bishop Teodoro de Faria retired and Bishop António José Cavaco Carrilho was named Bishop of Funchal, Portugal. Bishop Cavaco Carrilho had been serving as an Auxiliary Bishop of Porto.

Ciuraneta Aymí resigned as Lleida Bishop

Bishop Francesc-Xavier Ciuraneta Aymí resigned as Bishop of Lleida, Spain.

Kriengsak Kovitvanit named Nakhon Sawan Bishop

Bishop-elect Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovitvanit was named Bishop of Nakhon Sawan, Thailand. The diocese had been vacant since then-Bishop Louis Chamniern Santisukniram was named Archbishop of Thare and Nonseng in July 2005.

de França named Nazaré Bishop

Bishop Severino Batista de França, O.F.M. Cap. was named Bishop of Nazaré, Pernambuco, Brazil. The diocese had been vacant since the resignation of Jorge Tobias de Freitas in July 2006. Bishop de França had been serving as an Auxiliary Bishop of Santarém.

Grahmann retired, Farrell named Dallas Bishop

Bishop Charles Victor Grahmann retired and Bishop Kevin Joseph Farrell was named Bishop of Dallas, Texas, USA. Bishop Farrell had been serving as an Auxiliary Bishop of Washington, District of Columbia.

Provost named Lake Charles Bishop

Bishop-elect Glen John Provost was named Bishop of Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA. The diocese had been vacant since Bishop Edward Kenneth Braxton was named Bishop of Belleville, Illinois in March 2005.

Bishop Lorscheiter Died

Bishop José Ivo Lorscheiter, Bishop Emeritus of Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, has died. He was 79 years old and had served as a priest for 54 years. He died a day before the 41st anniversary of his consecration as a bishop. May he rest in peace.

Guerrero Córdova named Mixes Prelate

Bishop-elect Héctor Guerrero Córdova, S.D.B. was named Prelate of Mixes, Oaxaca, México. The territorial prelature had been vacant since Bishop Luis Felipe Gallardo Martín del Campo, S.D.B. was named Bishop of Veracruz in May 2006.

Nycz named Warszawa {Warsaw} Archbishop

Archbishop-designate Kazimierz Nycz was named Archbishop of Warszawa {Warsaw}, Poland. The archdiocese had been vacant since the resignation of Archbishop Stanislaw Wojciech Wielgus in January 2007. Archbishop-designate Nycz had been serving as Bishop of Koszalin-Kołobrzeg.

N’Gname named San Pedro-en-Côte d'Ivoire Bishop

Bishop-elect Paulin Kouabenan N’Gname was named Bishop of San Pedro-en-Côte d'Ivoire. The diocese had been vacant since then-Bishop Barthélémy Djabla was named Archbishop of Gagnoa in July 2006.