Archbishop Thomas Wenski
Curriculum Vitae
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Communications Department - Archdiocese of Miami
www.newmiamiarch.org
Motto: All Things to All Men (I
Corinthians 9:22)
Bishop Wenski, born in West Palm Beach on October 18, 1950 grew up
in Lake Worth, Florida where he attended Catholic school at his home
parish, Sacred Heart. He studied at St. John Vianney Minor Seminary
in Miami and later at St. Vincent de Paul Major Seminary in Boynton
Beach and was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Miami on May
15, 1976. He earned a B.A. Degree in Philosophy (1972), and Masters
of Divinity (1975), from the Boynton Beach Seminary and in 1993 a MA
from the School of Sociology of Fordham University in New York. He
has also taken summer courses at the Catholic University of Lublin
(Poland).
He served three years as associate pastor of Corpus Christi Church,
a mainly Hispanic parish in Miami. In 1979, after briefly
ministering in Haiti, he was assigned to the newly established
Haitian Apostolate of the Archdiocese. He was associate director and
then director of the Pierre Toussaint Haitian Catholic Center in
Miami from that time to his appointment as a Bishop in 1997. The
Pierre Toussaint Haitian Catholic Center in addition to providing
for the pastoral and spiritual needs of the Haitian communities of
South Florida also provided numerous social, educational and legal
services to newly arrived Haitian immigrants. He also served
concurrently as pastor of three Haitian mission parishes in the
Archdiocese—Notre-Dame d’Haiti in Miami, Divine Mercy in Fort
Lauderdale, and St. Joseph in Pompano Beach.
Through the 1980’s he also conducted a circuit-riding ministry that
led him to help establish Haitian Catholic communities from
Homestead in the south to Fort Pierce to the north, Immokalee to the
West and Fort Lauderdale to the east. In the early 1980’s his
outreach to Haitians also extended to Wachula, Winter Haven, and
Ruskin on Florida’s west coast.
He celebrated the weekly Mass in English for shut-ins at the Miami’s
local ABC affiliate from 1992-1997.
He directed the Archdiocese of Miami Ministry to Non-Hispanic Ethnic
Groups.
In January 1996, the then Father Wenski was appointed the
Archdiocese Director of Catholic Charities, one of the largest
Catholic social service agencies in the United States. In this
capacity he helped forge a collaborative relationship with Caritas
Cuba, the social service arm of the Catholic Church in Cuba. Since
early 1996 he has traveled to Cuba on many occasions on behalf of
the Church.
In late 1996, he spearheaded a relief operation that delivered over
150,000 pounds of food to Caritas Cuba for distribution to people
left homeless by hurricane Lily. This was the first time that Cubans
in Miami participated in a humanitarian relief effort directed to
Cuba. In subsequent years, similar relief efforts were also directed
to Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and the countries of Central
America and Colombia.
Appointed auxiliary Bishop of Miami on June 24, 1997, he was
ordained to the episcopacy on September 3, 1997 along with Bishop
Gilberto Fernandez in the Miami Arena.
Besides his duties in the Archdiocese of Miami, where he served on
numerous boards including Catholic Hospice, Catholic Charities,
Catholic Charities Legal Services, and St. Thomas University, and
later as Coadjutor Bishop and Ordinary of Orlando, he also served as
chair of CLINIC (Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.)
(1998-2001), chair of the United States Catholic Conference of
Bishops’ Committee on Migration (2001-2004); and chair of the
conference’s Committee on International Policy (2004-2008) and
currently he continues as a consultant to the Committee on
Migration, and a member of the Conference’s Secretariat for the
Church in Latin America , the committee for International Justice
and Peace, and CLINIC (Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.). On
behalf of his work on these committees, he has traveled to the Congo
and the Great Lakes region of Africa, the Caribbean, and Central and
South America as well as to Israel and the West Bank (Palestinian
Authority).
He also served on a number of community and civic organizations,
including Miami-Dade County’s Homeless Trust, the Coordinating
Council of Broward and in 2001, Governor Bush appointed him to the
Florida Council on Homelessness as well as the Governor’s Task Force
on Haiti in 2004.
He is currently the Episcopal Moderator for Catholic Health Services
for the Florida Catholic Conference.
Pope John Paul II appointed Bishop Wenski as coadjutor bishop of the
Diocese of Orlando on July 1, 2003.
Bishop Wenski assumed the role of the fourth bishop of the Diocese
of Orlando on November 13, 2004.
In October 2007, Bishop Wenski was selected to serve on the Board of
Directors of The Florida Specialty Crop Foundation, a non-profit
public charity that responds to challenges that confront specialty
crop producers and their stakeholders.
In March 2009, Bishop Wenski joined the Catholic Leadership
Institute's national advisory board for their “Good Leaders, Good
Shepherds” program.
In June 2009, Bishop Wenski was elected to a four-year term on the
Board of Trustees of The Catholic University of America.
On April 20th, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him the fourth Archbishop
of Miami and Metropolitan of the Province of Miami (which includes
the seven dioceses of the State of Florida).
He will be installed as Archbishop in Miami on June 1, 2010.
In addition to English, Bishop Wenski speaks Haitian Creole and
Spanish fluently and preaches and celebrates Mass regularly in both
languages. He learned Spanish while still a seminarian and worked
with various Spanish speaking groups including Cubans, Puerto Ricans
and Mexicans during his seminary training and early years as a
priest. He also has a limited knowledge of Polish, the language of
his immigrant father and Polish American mother. His parents moved
to Florida from Detroit, Michigan shortly after their wedding in
1947. They are both deceased. His sister and niece live in Lake
Worth. He is the only Florida native serving as a bishop in the
state.
Statement by Archbishop John C. Favalora
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Communications Department - Archdiocese of Miami
It was officially announced today at the
Vatican that Pope Benedict XVI has accepted my letter of resignation
as Archbishop of Miami. I have been privileged and blessed to serve
as Metropolitan Archbishop of Miami for almost sixteen years. There
is hardly a more exciting and challenging place than South Florida.
As I move into retirement years, I bring with me very fond memories
of my ministry with our dedicated priests and deacons, the wonderful
religious and seminarians, and the faithful hard-working laity of
the Archdiocese.
Today the Apostolic succession continues with the naming of Bishop
Thomas Wenski of the Diocese of Orlando as the Fourth Metropolitan
Archbishop of Miami. With resounding joy we welcome Archbishop
Wenski back home. This native son of ours served us well in the past
as pastor, Director of Haitian ministry, Director of Catholic
Charities and Auxiliary Bishop. The Archbishop knows us well and he
is no stranger to us.
His many pastoral gifts suit him exceptionally well to be our Chief
Shepherd. His extensive understanding of and experience with Central
and South America and the Caribbean Island nations will enhance the
international relationships we already enjoy. His linguistic skills
enable him to communicate well with our neighboring nations and
Churches.
With great pleasure I present now Archbishop Thomas Wenski.
Statement by
Archbishop-Designate Thomas Wenski
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Communications Department -
Archdiocese of Miami
This morning, upon the acceptance of
Archbishop Favalora’s request to retire, Pope Benedict XVI appointed
me as the fourth Archbishop of the Metropolitan See of Miami.
Jesus once bid Peter “Duc in altum” (Put out into the deep). Now
Peter’s successor has asked me to do the same in entrusting to me
this new responsibility. I am being called back to this local Church
where I was ordained a priest and where I served as a parish priest
and auxiliary bishop. Humbled by the Holy Father’s confidence in me
and aware of my own limitations and shortcomings, I once again ask
the intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church, that I may worthily
fulfill my new duties as the fourth Archbishop of Miami upon my
installation on June 1, 2010.
While I am “coming home to Miami”, I am leaving the Diocese of
Orlando where I have served almost seven years. I am deeply grateful
to the clergy, religious and faithful of the Diocese of Orlando.
They welcomed me and always made me feel at home in Central Florida.
As I return to South Florida, I know you will welcome me and also
make me feel at home again as I reacquaint myself with priests,
deacons and faithful of the Archdiocese of Miami.
I am grateful to Archbishop Favalora who shortly after he arrived
here to the Archdiocese appointed me as the Archdiocese Director of
Catholic Charities. I had big shoes to fill – replacing Msgr. Bryan
O. Walsh. And, I have big shoes to fill now. Archbishop, I was
privileged to serve as your auxiliary bishop for six years. You were
always a good mentor and you taught me not to be anxious for “God
will provide”. I hope that I can turn to you to seek your advice and
counsel from time to time. Hopefully, retirement will afford you the
opportunity to be as occupied as you wish – without being
preoccupied.
Those preoccupations fall on my shoulders come June 1st when I will
be installed as your new Archbishop. I am told that Miami has its
challenges but what else is new? The Lord tells us: “Do not be
afraid” (Mt 28: 5). But the fundamental challenge that we face
together is: “to show the Church’s capacity to promote and form
disciples and missionaries who respond to the calling received and
communicate everywhere, in an overflow of gratitude and joy, the
gift of encounter with Jesus Christ. We have no other treasure but
that. We have no other happiness, no other priority but being
instruments of the Spirit of God, in the Church, so that Jesus
Christ may be known, followed, loved, adored, and communicated to
all, despite difficulties and resistances.” (Documento Conclusivo de
Aparecida –V conferencia de CELAM).
When I was in Orlando, I used to tell the priests that I would not
ask them to work harder than I did. To the priests of Miami, I say
the same. And priests do work hard – and our people do appreciate
that; and, they have every right to expect that: not that we burn
ourselves out but that we burn ourselves up with love for them and
for the Lord.
As I prepare to become your Archbishop, I ask all of you, auxiliary
bishops, priests, deacons, religious and members of Christ’s
faithful, for your prayers and for your support. I ask the same from
the other faith communities of South Florida and I look forward to
collaborating with them and with our civic and political leaders to
promote the common good and the dignity of the human person made in
the “image and likeness of God.”
John Paul II reminded us: we must remember the past with gratitude,
live the present with enthusiasm and look to the future with
confidence. And so, with a mixture of gratitude, enthusiasm and
confidence, I would like to conclude my statement this morning with
these words from Pope Benedict XVI:
“There are times when the burden of need and our own limitations
might tempt us to become discouraged. But precisely then we are
helped by the knowledge that, in the end, we are only instruments in
the Lord's hands; and this knowledge frees us from the presumption
of thinking that we alone are personally responsible for building a
better world. In all humility we will do what we can, and in all
humility we will entrust the rest to the Lord. It is God who governs
the world, not we. We offer him our service only to the extent that
we can, and for as long as he grants us the strength. To do all we
can with what strength we have, however, is the task which keeps the
good servant of Jesus Christ always at work: “The love of Christ
urges us on” (2 Cor 5:14). Deus Caritas Est, #31
Words by John C. Favalora, Apostolic Administrator
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Communications Department - Archdiocese of Miami
Dear Monsignor/Father:
The Archdiocese of Miami has received good news today that our Holy
Father, Pope Benedict XVI, has appointed as our fourth Metropolitan
Archbishop one of our own, well-known, native sons. On behalf of all
of us, I congratulate Archbishop Thomas Wenski and assure him of our
joy, prayers and support.
At the same time, I express my gratitude to His
Holiness for having had the blessing and privilege of serving as
your Chief Shepherd for almost sixteen years. In the fall of 2008 I
began the process of preparing for my successor. It was becoming
more and more evident to me that the complexity of the Archdiocese
warranted consideration for a coadjutor. Our diverse cultural mix,
our many international relations and interactions because of our
immigrant component as well as our many pastoral and financial
challenges would seem to indicate that time
to understudy would be very helpful to the next Archbishop. It would
be good for him to be involved with the decisions that will affect
his tenure.
I received permission to seek a coadjutor at the end of 2008 and the
official process began in late spring 2009. By March of 2010, I
learned of the Holy Father’s selection. Immediately, it became
evident to me that our new Archbishop did not need the time to
understudy; he already had many more years of active ministry here
than I do. There was no practical reason to delay his appointment
until December.
It was my judgment that the needs and well-being of the Archdiocese
would be better served by an earlier transition. Upon my request, I
was permitted to tender my resignation and I receive the Holy
Father’s blessing in accord with canon 401, §
2. While I reiterate that I still enjoy good health, I also
recognize that I no longer have the stamina and spirit of earlier
years. Moreover, I recognize that the current challenges facing the
Archdiocese now could benefit from new eyes and fresh insights and
energies. Archbishop Wenski, I believe, will bring these and so many
more gifts to this Office. He will lead us very well. Shortly, I
will move to Villa McCarthy and begin my retirement years. I do so
with much peace. I thank each and all of you for your dedicated
service to our people. I
thank you for your support and prayers during my years as Chief
Shepherd. We have weathered many serious storms together; we have
enjoyed much sunshine together. I thank you for your many kindnesses
to me in so many ways.
I hope, with God’s grace, to enjoy more much-needed time for
reading, praying and doing work among the poor. I look forward to
this.
Finally, I want you to know of my continuing fraternal prayers for
you. I beg from you a daily commendation of me before our
Eucharistic Lord.
May the Lord continue to bless you and your priestly ministry
abundantly. With personal good wishes, I am sincerely in the Lord,
John C. Favalora
Apostolic Administrator
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