News

July 3, 2009

Bishop reassigns Scranton Diocese clergy

Many of the moves are clearly in response to the sweeping restructuring of parishes.

By Mark Guydish mguydish@timesleader.com
Education Reporter
Mark Guydish on Facebook   |   @TLMarkGuydish on Twitter

SCRANTON. – Bishop Joseph Martino has announced extensive reappointments of clergy throughout the diocese, with substantial shuffling in Luzerne County.

Many of the moves are clearly in response to the sweeping restructuring of parishes diocesewide, as churches move toward consolidation, and the number of priests continues to dwindle.

The announcements included nine priests who will move from the title of pastor to “pastor emeritus” at their churches, a title given upon retirement, which also typically includes curtailing their duties.

Here is how the changes affect area churches.

The Rev. Mark Balczeniuk will leave his post as pastor of Transfiguration in West Hazleton and become Eastern Pastoral Region Vicar, living at the Villa of Our Lady Retreat House, Mount Pocono. The Rev. David Betts will leave his residence status at Sacred Heart of Jesus-St. John and St. Stanislaus Kostka in Wilkes-Barre to become administrator at Transfiguration and St. Francis of Assisi, West Hazleton. Current St. Francis pastor, the Rev. John Ruth will become administrator of two Scranton churches.

Monsignor Francis Beeda will change from pastor to pastor emeritus at St. Joseph and St. Stanislaus, Hazleton. The Rev. Richard Cirba will leave his post as pastor at Holy Trinity, Swoyersville, to replace Beeda as pastor in the Hazleton parishes, and will be joined by the Rev. Balireddy Ponnapati as assistant pastor, who will leave St. Nicholas, Wilkes-Barre. The current assistant at the two Hazleton churches, the Rev. Bryan Wright, will leave for a Mount Pocono parish. The Rev. William Karle will leave his post as pastor at Holy Saviour, Wilkes-Barre, to become pastor at Holy Trinity and Holy Name/St. Mary in Swoyersville. Current Holy Name pastor, the Rev. Louis Grippe will become pastor at Most Precious Blood, Hazleton. Current Most Precious Blood administrator the Rev. Wilfredo Comellas will become assistant pastor at St. Aloysius and St. Casimir, Wilkes-Barre, and Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Hanover Township. The Rev. Kenneth Seegar will come from a church in Susquehanna County to be administrator at Holy Saviour.

The Rev. Vincent Dang will move from pastor of Holy Family, Sugar Notch, to pastor, St. Frances X. Cabrini, Carverton, replacing the Rev. James Shimsky, who has been administrator. Shimsky is being assigned to two parishes north of Scranton. The Rev. Joseph Kakareka will leave his post as administrator of Ss. Peter and Paul, Avoca, to take over as pastor at Holy Family. St. Mary, Avoca, pastor the Rev. Phillip Sladicka will also be pastor of Ss. Peter and Paul.

The Rev. Joseph Evanko will leave his post as pastor at St. John Bosco, Conyngham, and Good Shepherd, Butler Township, to be pastor at St. Jude, Mountain Top. Current St. John, Stroudsburg, pastor, the Rev. John Lambert will be pastor at St. John Bosco and Good Shepherd. Current St. Jude administrator the Rev. Michael Quinnan will be pastor in a Monroe County church.

The Rev. Gregory Finn will leave his post as pastor at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Pittston, to be pastor, Sacred Heart of Jesus, Harleigh, St. Gabriel, Hazleton, St. Nazarius, Pardeesville, and St. Mary, Lattimer. The current pastor at those parishes, the Rev. Peter O’Rourke, will become pastor at St. Patrick, Scranton. Current St. Rocco, Pittston, pastor, the Rev. Daniel Schwebs will be administrator at Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The four Hazleton-area churches will also get two assistant pastors, the Rev. Johnson Kochuparambil from Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Pittston, and the Rev. Victor Leon, from Nativity of Our Lord, Scranton, and lose current assistant pastor the Rev. Gregory Villaescusa to parishes near Towanda. The two Pittston churches will get the Rev. Jackson Pinhiero as assistant pastor, from the St. Joseph’s Oblates Seminary.

The Rev. Richard Fox, pastor at Holy Family in Luzerne, will become pastor at St. Eulalia, Elmhurst. The Rev. Michael Zipay will take over in Luzerne, arriving from a South Williamsport parish.

The Rev. Duane Gavitt will leave his post as pastor at St. Aloysius and St. Casimir, Wilkes-Barre, to be pastor at Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, Freeland, where current pastor the Rev. John Melnick is leaving for the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas. Eastern Pastoral Region Episcopal Vicar the Rev. Andrew R. Sinnott will replace Gavitt at the two Wilkes-Barre churches, and add Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Hanover Township, to his pastoral duties. Current Exaltation administrator the Rev. Paul Pudhota will leave to become administrator at Holy Trinity, Wilkes-Barre, and St. Joseph, Wilkes-Barre Township. The current pastor there, the Rev. Theodore Obaza, will become pastor emeritus.

The Rev. Joseph Kearney, current pastor at Blessed Sacrament, St. Francis and St. John the Baptist in Wilkes-Barre, will also be pastor at St. Dominic in Wilkes-Barre, where current pastor the Rev. William Culnane will be pastor emeritus.

The Rev. William Langan will leave his post as pastor at St. Francis of Assisi and St. Joseph, Nanticoke, to be pastor at St. John the Evangelist and St. Mary Magdalen, Honesdale. The Rev. James Nash, current pastor of four other Nanticoke parishes, will add St. Francis and St. Joseph to his list.

The Rev. Michael Marchetti will leave a Montoursville parish to be pastor at Our Lady of Sorrows, West Wyoming, and St. Joseph, Wyoming, where the current pastor, the Rev. James Walsh, will leave to be administrator of St. Francis of Assisi in Scranton.

Gate of Heaven, Dallas, pastor the Rev. Kevin Mulhern will leave to be pastor at Our Lady of the Abingtons, Dalton. The Rev. Daniel Toomey will leave a post in Montdale, to be pastor at Gate of Heaven and Our Lady of Victory, Harveys Lake. Current Our Lady of Victory pastor the Rev. E. Francis Kelly will serve as chaplain at Holy Family Residence in Scranton.

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