Introducing Bishop-Elect Malloy—New Leader of Rockford Diocese

The Vatican announced March 20 that Pope Benedict XVI, accepted the resignation of Bishop Thomas G. Doran and appointed Msgr. David John Malloy, as the ninth Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Rockford. 

Bishop Doran held a press conference at 10 a.m. the same day at the Diocesan Administration Center to officially announce his retirement and introduce Malloy. Doran officially submitted his letter of resignation on Feb, 20, his 75th birthday, which is required by church law. He will remain as apostolic administrator of the diocese until Malloy’s formal installation, scheduled for 2 p.m. Monday, May 14, at the BMO Harris Bank Center in downtown Rockford. 

The diocese includes 11 northern Illinois counties and includes 456,965 Catholics in 105 parishes, according to a story in the Rockford Register Star.

Here's some background, courtesy of The Observer newspaper and the Rockford Diocese website.

BISHOP-ELECT DAVID JOHN MALLOY 

Bishop-elect Malloy was born Feb. 3, 1956, in Milwaukee, WI, the son of David (deceased) and Mary Malloy. 

He has one sister, Mary Ellen, and four brothers: Daniel, Father Francis, Robert and Richard. 

He attended Christ King Grade School in Wauwatosa, WI, and graduated from Wauwatosa East School in 1974. He graduated from Marquette University in Milwaukee in 1978 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology. He studied one year at St. Francis de Sales Seminary in Milwaukee and five years at the Gregorian University in Rome, where he received advanced in theology. 

He was ordained to the priesthood in 1983 by Archbishop Rembert Weakland. He served two years as associate pastor of St. John Nepomuk Parish in Racine.

In preparation for the Vatican Diplomatic Service he attended the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy from 1986 to 1990 where he received a degree in Canon Law from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas, (Angelicum) and a doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Gregorian University. After his , he served as secretary to the Apostolic Nunciature (Vatican Embassies) in Pakistan (1990-1994) and the Apostolic Nunciature in Syria (1995).

From 1995 to 1998 he was secretary to the Permanent Observer Mission to the Holy See. Bishop-elect Malloy left the Diplomatic Service in 1998 and served for two and a half years in the Vatican's prefecture of the Papal Household helping with the Great Jubilee Year of 2000. 

In 2001 he was appointed Associate General Secretary of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and in 2006 began a five-year term as general secretary. After his term at the USCCB ended, Bishop-elect Malloy was assigned to be pastor at St. Francis de Sales Parish in Lake Geneva, where he has served since Aug. 1, 2011. 

He speaks Italian, Spanish and some French.

SOURCE: Rockford Diocese