Pope Names New Auxiliary Bishop For San Francisco

WASHINGTON—Pope Benedict XVI has named Msgr. Robert McElroy, 56, pastor of St. Gregory Parish, San Mateo, California, as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

The appointment was publicized in Washington, July 6, by Msgr. Jean-François Lantheaume, Chargé d’Affaires, at the apostolic nunciature in the United States.

Robert McElroy was born February 5, 1954. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University in 1975, a Master’s degree in American History from Stanford University in 1976, and a Master of Divinity degree from St. Patrick Seminary, Menlo Park, California, in 1979.

Bishop-elect McElroy was ordained a priest for the San Francisco Archdiocese in 1980, and named a monsignor in 1996.

After ordination to the priesthood he was parochial vicar of St. Cecilia Church, 1980-1982; and secretary to Archbishop John R. Quinn, 1982-1985. He studied for a Licentiate in Sacred Theology at the Jesuit School of Theology, Berkeley, California, in 1985; and for a Doctorate in Sacred Theology, at the Gregorian University, Rome, 1985-1986. He studied for a Doctorate in History at Stanford from 1986-1989.

From 1989-1995, he was parochial vicar at St. Pius Church, and was vicar general for the San Francisco Archdiocese, 1995-1997. In 1997, he was assigned to St. Gregory Church.

His is author of The Search for an American Public Theology: The Contribution of John Courtney Murray, Paulist Press, 1989; and Morality and American Foreign Policy: The Role of Ethics in International Affairs, Princeton University Press, 1992. He also has been published in journals and America magazine. Among his articles in America are “Prudence and Eucharistic Sanctions,” January 31, 2005; “He Held These Truths,” February 7, 2005; and “Why We Must Withdraw From Iraq,” April 30, 2007.