ARIZONA NEWS
Diocese of Phoenix to install new bishop during mass at Avondale church
PHOENIX — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix will install its new bishop during a special mass on Tuesday morning in Avondale.
John P. Dolan will officially become the fifth bishop in the diocese’s history.
The installation mass is set to begin at 10:30 a.m., with seating by 10 a.m., at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church on Thomas Road just east of Litchfield Road.
Tickets are required to attend in person because of space limitations, but the diocese plans to broadcast the mass live on AZTV Channel 7, YouTube and Facebook.
In June, Pope Francis appointed Dolan to succeed Bishop Thomas Olmsted, who on his 75th birthday in January submitted a request to retire, in accordance with Canon Law. Olmsted became Phoenix’s bishop in December 2003.
Dolan, 60, was ordained a priest in San Diego, where he was born, in July 1989 and has been auxiliary bishop of that diocese since April 2017. He also has been serving as San Diego’s moderator of the curia, vicar general and vicar for clergy.
The Diocese of Phoenix was established in 1969 and serves more than 1.1 million Catholics across 43,967 square miles in Maricopa, Mohave, Coconino and Yavapai counties and the Gila Indian Reservation.
The diocese consists of 94 parishes, 23 missions, 29 elementary schools, seven high schools, three universities and one seminary.
