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Vermont Bishop Named Head Of Rochester, N.Y. Diocese

AP/ Toby Talbot
Vermont Catholic Bishop Salvatore R. Matano, who has been appointed to lead the diocese of Rochester, N.Y.,

Bishop Salvatore Matano, who has overseen the Diocese of Burlington since 2005, was named bishop of the diocese of Rochester, N.Y.

Church officials in Rochester announced Wednesday that Pope Francis has named Bishop Salvatore R. Matano the ninth bishop of the Rochester diocese, which covers a 12-county region in central and western New York. The 67-year-old Matano is currently the bishop of the Diocese of Burlington, which comprises the entire state of Vermont. Before being named Burlington bishop in 2005, the Providence, R.I., native held church posts in Washington, D.C. and his hometown.

Matano said he hadn't sought the appointment, and he'd planned to stay in Burlington "until my duties will have reached completion."

The bishop's tenure in Vermont was marked by the priest abuse scandal that rocked the Catholic Church in recent years. The Burlington diocese paid out millions to settle cases and had to sell the property where its Burlington headquarters is located.

"I pray I handled those circumstances as best I could," Matano said Wednesday. "But every day I beg God's mercy for the inadequacies that may have been in place when I dealt with these circumstances."

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) said in a statement that Matano hadn't handled the crisis well, calling him "a bureaucrat with a terrible record on children's safety."

The Rochester diocese, where Matano will start Jan. 3,  has about 300,000 worshippers from Rochester to the Pennsylvania border, according to the AP report.

It is not known when the Vatican will name a new Bishop to the Burlington Diocese.

Steve has been with VPR since 1994, first serving as host of VPR’s public affairs program and then as a reporter, based in Central Vermont. Many VPR listeners recognize Steve for his special reports from Iran, providing a glimpse of this country that is usually hidden from the rest of the world. Prior to working with VPR, Steve served as program director for WNCS for 17 years, and also worked as news director for WCVR in Randolph. A graduate of Northern Arizona University, Steve also worked for stations in Phoenix and Tucson before moving to Vermont in 1972. Steve has been honored multiple times with national and regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for his VPR reporting, including a 2011 win for best documentary for his report, Afghanistan's Other War.
Taylor was VPR's digital reporter from 2013 until 2017. After growing up in Vermont, he graduated with at BA in Journalism from Northeastern University in 2013.
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