July 20, 2006
BISHOP-ELECT THOMAS TO BE ORDAINED
Cardinal Justin Rigali, Archbishop of Philadelphia will ordain Reverend Monsignor Daniel E. Thomas as an Auxiliary Bishop in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia on July 26, 2006. Co-consecrators are Archbishop John P. Foley, President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications at the Vatican, and Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien, Archdiocese for the Military Services. The live video will be available beginning with the Procession at 2:10 p.m.
Procession 2:00 p.m.
Ordination Mass 2:30 p.m.
Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul
18th Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Philadelphia
A procession of 5 Cardinals, 11 Archbishops, 30 Bishops and more than 350 priests will originate at 2:10 p.m. at the Archdiocesan Office Center (222 N. 17th Street). It will then turn right on Race Street, then turn right again onto 18th Street, where the procession will enter the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul.
50 student ambassadors from Roman Catholic High School for Boys, where Bishop-elect Thomas attended high school, will assist with the liturgy by carrying flags in the procession and serving as ushers.
Cardinal Rigali announced the papal appointment of Bishop-elect Thomas at a news conference on June 8, 2006. Bishop-elect Thomas is the Pastor of Our Lady of the Assumption Parish in Strafford, Chester County.
Bishop-elect Thomas was born in the Manayunk section of Philadelphia to Francis P. and the late Anna M. (Weber) Thomas on June 11, 1959. He attended Holy Family Parish Elementary School and is a 1977 graduate of Roman Catholic High School in Philadelphia. He graduated from Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania and was ordained in 1985. He served as Parochial Vicar of Saint Joseph's Parish in Aston beginning in 1985 and then was assigned to Graduate Studies in Dogmatic Theology at the Pontifical North American College in Rome in 1987. Father Thomas received the License in Sacred Theology from Pontifical Gregorian University in 1989 and pursued Doctoral Studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in 1989. He was assigned as an Official of the Congregation for Bishops at the Holy See from 1990 to 2005. He was named a Prelate of Honor with the title Monsignor by Pope John Paul II in 2005.
Editor's Note: An audio and video mult-box feed will be provided in the parking lot of the Cathedral. Please enter on 17th Street, between Race and Vine Streets. Crews will need a bnc connector and a recording deck or a live truck. Television cameras will not be permitted in the Cathedral. Reporters and still photographers will be permitted in the Cathedral.
Contact
Meredith V. Wilson
Communications Specialist
215-587-3747