Pope Francis Appoints Bishop Christopher Coyne to be the Coadjutor Archbishop of Hartford

In an announcement on Monday, Pope Francis appointed Bishop Christopher Coyne as the coadjutor archbishop of Hartford. As coadjutor, Coyne will assist Archbishop Leonard Blair in the administration of the Hartford Archdiocese and is expected to succeed him as archbishop upon Blair's retirement, which is anticipated when he turns 75 next year.

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Bishop Christopher Coyne

Highlights

By
6/26/2023 (10 months ago)

Published in U.S.

Keywords: Bishop Christopher Coyne, Archbishop, Hartford, Pope Francis

Bishop Coyne has been serving as the leader of the Diocese of Burlington, Vermont, since 2015. Prior to that, the 65-year-old bishop served as the auxiliary bishop of Indianapolis from 2011 to 2015.

During his tenure as bishop of Burlington, Coyne made headlines for various actions. In 2022, he removed an unvaccinated pastor from his parish for refusing to wear a face mask and undergo regular COVID-19 testing. He also spoke out against a state bill that posed a threat to the seal of the confessional, a sacred aspect of the sacrament of reconciliation. Additionally, in 2018, he formed a lay review committee to investigate personnel files related to cases of sexual abuse of minors by priests.

Originally hailing from Woburn, Massachusetts, Coyne had an unconventional journey to the priesthood. Before entering seminary, he worked as a bartender for two years. He was ordained as a priest for the Archdiocese of Boston at the age of 27. Following his ordination, he pursued further studies at the Pontifical Liturgical Institute in Rome, where he obtained a doctorate in sacred liturgy in 1994. In 2000, he became the director of the Archdiocese of Boston's Office of Worship.

In 2002, Cardinal Bernard Law appointed Coyne as a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Boston, a position he held for three years during the height of the archdiocese's sex abuse scandal. He later served as the chairman of communications for the U.S. bishops' conference from 2015 to 2018 and was a member of the U.S. bishops' Evangelization and Catechesis Committee and the Committee on Divine Worship.

Next year, Bishop Coyne is expected to succeed Archbishop Blair, who has been leading the Archdiocese of Hartford for the past decade. Prior to his tenure in Connecticut, Blair served as the bishop of Toledo from 2003 to 2013 and as an auxiliary bishop of Detroit from 1999 to 2003.

Archbishop Blair initiated a pastoral plan in 2016 to revitalize the Archdiocese of Hartford, which involved the consolidation of neighboring churches into single parishes, resulting in a reduction in the number of parishes from 213 to 127. He also called for an archdiocesan synod in 2018.

The Archdiocese of Hartford encompasses the counties of New Haven and Litchfield and is home to nearly 470,000 Catholics. It was established as a diocese by Pope Gregory XVI in 1843.