BUFFALO'S NEW BISHOP

Bishop Ed will soon be back in the Diocese of Albany full time.

Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger - who was named Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Buffalo last December and has shuttled back and forth between the two dioceses since that time - will soon hand the reins of the troubled diocese over to Auxiliary Bishop Michael William Fisher of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., who was appointed by Pope Francis as the 15th bishop of the diocese early Tuesday morning.

“This is a blessed and wonderful day for the good people across Western New York,” said Bishop Scharfenberger, who will continue in his role as Apostolic Administrator until Bishop Fisher’s installation in Buffalo on Jan. 15, 2021. “In Bishop Michael Fisher, they have been given a priest, pastor and bishop whose passion to serve, to listen, to heal and comfort have distinguished his 30-year ministry. 

“It has been among my life’s great joys to get to know and assist this faith-filled community, to accompany them in their initial steps on the path toward renewal and redefine the enormous potential of the Church to accomplish so much good across this region. I pledge my fraternal support to Bishop Fisher and my abiding love and care for the family of faith of this Diocese now and in all the days ahead.”

In the year since Bishop Scharfenberger was named Apostolic Administrator, the diocese has filed for Chapter 11 reorganization under the crush of numerous sexual abuse lawsuits and most recently was sued, along with two former bishops, by the New State Attorney general for the alleged cover-up in the scandal. (See page 11)

“I am deeply humbled and grateful to the Holy Father for this gift to serve the people of Buffalo as their bishop. I am eager to become part of this vibrant faith community, with a proud and distinguished legacy of Catholic education, ministry and civic service,” Bishop Fisher said. “I offer my abiding gratitude and admiration to Bishop Edward Scharfenberger for the generosity of his spirit and his selfless devotion to serving as Apostolic Administrator during this interim period and while also leading the Diocese of Albany. 

“Though the challenges that currently confront the Diocese of Buffalo are many and significant, they are not equal to the resolve of so many committed lay women and men, devoted priests, deacons and religious across Western New York, who are no less determined to reveal God’s transformative love that has the power to bind every wound, renew and make us whole. We would do well to recall the promise in Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians: ‘No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him.”

Bishop Fisher was born on March 3, 1958 in Baltimore, and was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Washington by Cardinal James A. Hickey at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle on June 23, 1990. On June 8, 2018, he was named an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Washington by Pope Francis and ordained to the episcopate on June 29, 2018 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. 

Bishop Fisher’s installation will take place on Jan. 15, 2021 at 2 p.m. in the Cathedral of Saint Joseph in Buffalo. His Eminence Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Metropolitan Archbishop of New York, will preside and Archbishop Christophe Pierre, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, will be in attendance.