CINCINNATI — Pope Francis announced on Wednesday that he has accepted the resignation of Archbishop Dennis Schnurr from the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, according to a news release.
With the announcement, Pope Francis also appointed Schnurr's successor. He named Most Reverend Robert Casey, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago as the new archbishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
The Archdiocese of Cincinnati held an event at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter in Chains to introduce Archbishop-designate Casey. Archbishop Schnurr was not in attendance at the event following a fall on Feb. 2, which he is recovering from.
"We need to pray for Archbishop Schnurr's health and recovery," Archbishop-designate Casey said at the event. "So he can get on his feet and celebrate with the bishops."
Archbishop-designate Casey has been a priest for more than 30 years, having been ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1994, before he was ordained as a bishop in 2018.
Watch to learn more about the new archbishop-designate:
"I understand the journey of the priesthood," Archbishop-designate Casey said.
He spoke about being called to the priesthood while attending a catholic high school and described himself as being born and raised in Chicago.
During Wednesday's event, Casey invited the church to listen and have a relationship with each other. He talked about wanting to build bridges and relationships as an archbishop with the community.
"It's not looking at the street but looking at the crosswalk and how do we build those relationships so that again we can partner in creating a better family of God," said Casey.
We asked Casey about his position on a few issues, including embracing the Pope's message about being more inclusive for the poor and LGBTQ community.
"All we have to do is look within our own families and we see that we are a very diverse family of God and what needs to happen I hope is the ability to build bridges," said Casey.
We also asked him what he would say to Catholics who've left the church in hopes of bringing them back.
"There's moments where we have to say we're sorry, there's moments where we have to say let's have an honest conversation because I think you misunderstood something, so that's one group who have distanced themselves from the church," said Casey.
He also responded with what he feels he needs to do to better protect children in light of the clergy abuse scandal that came out in the early 2000s.
"We can never kind of rest on the accomplishments that we have made as church which are many because our church has come very far in its work with safeguarding and creating safe environments, but we cannot rest kind of on the past 30 years we have to continue to be diligent and aware and continue to form and train our people properly," said Casey.
Hear from the new archbishop below:
Schnurr has served as the tenth archbishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati since 2009. He was previously Bishop of Duluth from 2001 to 2008. He was ordained as a priest of his home diocese of Sioux City in 1974.
“It has been my great honor and privilege to serve the people of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati these past 15 years. Now, on behalf of the people of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, it is a great joy to welcome Archbishop-designate Robert Casey to his new home,” Schnurr said in a news release. “Archbishop-designate Casey is highly regarded by the people and priests he serves, and I am pleased such a good man will be shepherding the people of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati."
Schurr said he intends to remain in Cincinnati after his retirement and help the new archbishop. Casey will become the eleventh archbishop of Cincinnati.
We spoke to several members of the Catholic church about what they thought of Archbishop Schnurr's time at the helm, and what they're looking for in the new archbishop. They spoke about wanting the new archbishop to be better in line with Pope Francis' teachings, to be more visible and to end the cycle of silence and abuse in the church with transparency.
Hear from them in the video below:
