Religion

Bishop Barres to be installed on Tuesday

Long Island's Catholic community celebrating new leader

Posted

The Diocese of Rockville Centre is busily preparing for a solemn and celebratory service: the Mass of Installation for Bishop John Barres, who on Tuesday will become only the fifth bishop in the diocese’s history.

A vespers prayer service will be held Monday at 7 p.m. at St. Agnes Cathedral in Rockville Centre, followed by the installation Mass the next day at 2 p.m., also at St. Agnes.

Both services are open only to ticket holders. According to diocese officials, there are no more tickets available. Both events, however, can be viewed on the Catholic Telecare network –– channels 29 and 137 on Cabevision, channel 296 on Verizon Fios TV and channel 471 on Charter Spectrum. Live-streaming will also be available through TeleCareTV.org.

Coverage of the vespers service will start at 6:45 p.m., and coverage of the installation Mass will begin at 1:15 p.m.

Barres, who was the bishop of Allentown, Pa., for the last 7½ years, will succeed Bishop William Murphy in leading one of the country’s largest dioceses, with 1.5 million Catholics in Nassau and Suffolk counties.

Murphy, 76, served as the bishop since 2001. The Code of Canon Law states that diocesan bishops must submit their resignations to the pope when they reach 75 years of age.

“It is my deep conviction that he will be a bishop for all of us without exception,” Murphy said of Barres. “He has shared with me his love of youth and his care for the elderly. He has a keen sense of parish life and has a special expertise in education.”

Murphy noted Barres’s deep and abiding “love for the poor,” saying that he would continue to lend full support to Catholic Charities as well as local Catholic hospitals and parish outreach programs.

The 56-year-old Barres was appointed by Pope Francis and named bishop by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the U.S. apostolic nuncio, in Washington, D.C.