Hey, We Called This One Right! Frank Caggiano Named New Bishop

It took more than a year following Bishop Lori’s departure, but Pope Francis has named Frank Caggiano bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport. More on the announcement: www.bridgeportdiocese.com

OIB Flashback, March 21, 2012

With Bishop William Lori heading out of the city, named by Pope Benedict XVI the 16th Archbishop of Baltimore, the search is on for his replacement to represent nearly 500,000 Fairfield County Catholics in the Diocese of Bridgeport. One of the bishops high on the list to replace Lori, according to Diocese insiders, is Auxiliary Bishop Frank Caggiano from the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York. The process to select Lori’s replacement is expected to take several months. See Bishop Caggiano’s biography below pulled from dioceseofbrooklyn.org/Caggiano.aspx.

Auxiliary Bishop Frank J. Caggiano was born in the Gravesend section of Brooklyn March 29, 1959, the second of two children of Arnaldo and Gennarina Caggiano, both of whom came to this country in 1958 from the town of Caggiano in the province of Salerno, Italy. His father died in 2002.

The bishop studied at SS. Simon and Jude School in Gravesend; Regis High School in Manhattan; Cathedral College, Douglaston, and Immaculate Conception Seminary, Huntington, L.I. He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Francis J. Mugavero May 16, 1987.

After ordination, he served in two Brooklyn parishes–St. Agatha’s in Bay Ridge and St. Athanasius in Bensonhurst–before beginning five years of graduate studies in sacred theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 1991. He earned a doctorate in 1996. When he returned to the Diocese he served at St. Jude’s parish in Canarsie and then as pastor of St. Dominic’s parish in Bensonhurst.

After an appointment as director of the Permanent Diaconate Office in 2002, he was named by Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio in 2004 to serve as Vicar for Evangelization and Pastoral Life, which includes the Diaconate Formation Office, the Ecumenical and Interfaith Commission, the Liturgy Office, the Pastoral Institute, the Office of Faith Formation, the Pastoral Planning Office, the SS. Peter and Paul Spirituality Center and the San Vincente de Paul Centro de Evangelizacion.

He was named a Papal Chaplain by Pope John Paul II in 2003.

Bishop Caggiano has written for two Catholic newspapers: seven scripture columns for The Tablet and nine articles on theological and spiritual issues for the Hartford Transcript. His doctoral dissertation, “The Eschatological Implications of the Notion of Recreation in the Works of St. Cyril of Alexandria,” and “The Exaltation of Christ: The Meaning of ‘At the Right Hand’ in the New Testament,” were published by Gregorian University.