May 19, 2015 // Uncategorized

Two Brooklyn priests named auxiliary bishops for their diocese

Todays Catholic

By Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Pope Francis has named two Brooklyn, New York, priests as auxiliary bishops for the Diocese of Brooklyn.

Father James Massa, 54, currently the diocese’s moderator of the curia and vicar for evangelization, and Father Witold Mroziewski, 49, pastor of Holy Cross Parish, were named in appointments publicized in Washington May 19 by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, apostolic nuncio.

Brooklyn currently has three active auxiliaries, Bishops Octavio Cisneros, Paul R. Sanchez and Raymond F. Chappetto. Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio has led the diocese since 2003.

The appointments were announced May 19 in Washington by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Bishop-designate Massa is a native of Jersey City, New Jersey, born Sept. 3, 1960, who was ordained a priest in 1986. He attended the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in the Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York, and has a bachelor of arts in theology and history from Boston College, a master’s in divinity from Yale University and a doctorate in systemic theology from Fordham University.

In addition to assignments in parish and campus ministry in the Brooklyn Diocese, Bishop-designate Massa has been a theology professor and from 2005 to 2011 was executive director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. From 2007 to 2015, he served on the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. He has held his current post as moderator of the curia for the Brooklyn Diocese since 2014.

Bishop-designate Mroziewski is a native of Poland and currently is pastor of Holy Cross Parish in Maspeth, New York, which for 102 years has been a home for Polish immigrants and the Polish-American community.

Born March 25, 1966, he attended the seminary for the Diocese of Lomza, Poland, and was ordained a priest there in 1991. His education includes master’s degrees in divinity and canon law and a doctorate in canon law from the Catholic University of Lublin, Poland.

He arrived in Brooklyn not long after his ordination, serving in pastoral services beginning in 1992, then at Czestochowa-St. Casimir Parish in Brooklyn in various capacities before being made pastor of Holy Cross in 2013. He also serves as a judge of diocesan tribunal and as a defender of the bond. He was incardinated into the Brooklyn Diocese in 2001.