Pope Names Hospital Ministry Leader Auxiliary Bishop Of Newark
WASHINGTON—Pope Benedict XVI named Msgr. Manuel A. Cruz, 54, Newark Archdiocesan Director for Hospital Apostolate, as auxiliary bishop of Newark.
The appointment was announced in Washington, June 9, by Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
Bishop-elect Cruz was ordained in 1980, and became the first Cuban-born priest ordained for the archdiocese. He studied at Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, and at Immaculate Conception Seminary in Mahwah, New Jersey, where he earned a master of arts degree in sacred scripture.
After ordination he was named associate pastor at Holy Rosary Parish in Elizabeth, New Jersey, 1980-82. He then was named associate pastor at Newark’s Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, 1982-1995. He was named a monsignor in 2000.
In 1995, Bishop-elect Cruz was named chaplain at St. Michael’s Medical Center in Newark and later Director of Pastoral Care at the Medical Center, which is part of the Archdiocese’s Cathedral Healthcare System.
He has held several positions at University of Medicine and Dentistry New Jersey – New Jersey Medical School, Newark. He was a lecturer in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, 1995-2000; an instructor there 2000-2001, and an adjunct professor, 2001 onwards. He is a full member of the Society of Neuropathology of New York.
Bishop-elect Cruz has been a member of the Ethics Committee of St. Michael’s Medical Center since 1995, and a member of the New Jersey Bishops’ Committee on Ethics since 2003.
The Newark Archdiocese includes 2,809,267 persons, 47 percent of whom are Catholic.