Pope Names Louisville, Kentucky Vicar General To Succeed Bishop Gerald Gettelfinger Of Evansville, Indiana

WASHINGTON—Pope Benedict XVI has named Father Charles C. Thompson, 50, vicar general of the Archdiocese of Louisville, Kentucky, and pastor of Holy Trinity Parish in Louisville, to succeed Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger of Evansville, Indiana, 75, and accepted Bishop Gettelfinger’s resignation from the pastoral governance of the diocese.

The appointment and resignation acceptance were publicized in Washington, April 26, by Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Charles C. Thompson was born April 11, 1961, in Louisville. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in accounting from Bellarmine College, a Master of Divinity degree from St. Meinrad School of Theology, and a Licentiate in Canon Law from St. Paul University in Ottawa.

He was ordained a priest for the Louisville Archdiocese in 1987.

Assignments after ordination included associate pastor, St. Joseph Pro-Cathedral, Bardstown, Kentucky, and chaplain of Bethlehem High School, Bardstown, 1987-1990; part-time associate pastor, St. Francis of Assisi Parish, Louisville, 1992-1993; metropolitan judicial vicar and director of tribunals, 1993-1998; administrator, St. Peter Claver Parish, Louisville, 1994-1996; chaplain, Presentation Academy, Louisville, 1995-1997; pastor, St. Augustine Parish, Lebanon, Kentucky, 1996-2002; defender of the bond and judge of the diocesan tribunal, 1998-2008; pastor, Holy Trinity Parish, 2002-present and vicar general, 2008-present.

Bishop Gettelfinger was born in Ramsey, Indiana, on October 20, 1935. He was ordained a priest in 1961 for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. In 1989, he was appointed bishop of Evansville. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Meinrad College and a Master of Science degree in education from Butler University.

The Evansville Diocese includes 5,010 square miles, with 496,793 people, of which 17 percent, or 85,079, of them are Catholic.

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