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Bishop Burbidge will be installed Dec. 6

The installation of Bishop Michael F. Burbidge as Arlington’s
fourth bishop will take place Tuesday, Dec. 6, the feast of St. Nicolas of
Myra. Bishop Burbidge will be the celebrant and homilist at the Mass that
begins at 2 p.m. at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More.

Archbishop William E. Lori, as metropolitan of the Baltimore
Province, will be the installing prelate. Archbishop Christophe Pierre,
apostolic nuncio to the United States, will read the apostolic letter from Pope
Francis.

Mark Herrmann, diocesan chancellor, will show the apostolic
letter to the College of Consultors and then to the congregation. Archbishops
Lori and Pierre then will escort Bishop Burbidge to the cathedra (chair), where
he will receive his crozier and be seated as Arlington’s new bishop.

Assisting deacons at the installation Mass will be Stephen M. Vaccaro,
a diocesan seminarian, and Atanacio Sandoval from St. John Neumann Church in
Reston. The masters of ceremony will be Fathers Brendan W. Bartlett, Paul F.
deLadurantaye, Noah C. Morey, Robert J. Wagner and Jamie R. Workman.

Diocesan, ecumenical and interfaith representatives will greet
Bishop Burbidge as a sign of welcome. The prayers of the faithful will be read
in Spanish, Vietnamese, Ghanian, Korean, Tagalog and English.

An estimated 1,200 people are expected to be at the historic
event, but attendance at the installation Mass is by ticket only. It is not
open to the general public. However, the Mass will be live streamed at catholicherald.com
and arlingtondiocese.org and will be televised later in the day by the Eternal
Word Television Network.

Parking at the cathedral will be restricted as well. Satellite
parking will be available at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Falls Church and
St. Agnes Church in Arlington. Shuttle buses will be available to the
cathedral.

Catholics in the Arlington Diocese will get a chance to meet
Bishop Burbidge in January as he is expected to celebrate Masses in each of the
seven deaneries in the diocese. The dates and locations of those events will be
announced later.

Bishop Burbidge was born June 16, 1957, in Philadelphia, Pa., the
second son of Francis and Shirley Burbidge and brother of Francis Burbidge Jr.
He attended Catholic grade schools and graduated from Cardinal O’Hara High
School in Springfield, Pa., in 1975. From high school he went to St. Charles
Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Pa., and was ordained a priest of the
Archdiocese of Philadelphia by Cardinal John Krol in 1984.

He was appointed rector of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in 1999.
In 2002, he was ordained an auxiliary bishop of Philadelphia, where he oversaw
the Office of the Vicar for Clergy and the Communications Office.

Pope Benedict XVI named him the fifth bishop of the Diocese of
Raleigh June 8, 2006. He was appointed the fourth bishop of Arlington by Pope
Francis Oct. 4, 2016.

His episcopal motto is “Walk Humbly with Your God.”

The Diocese of Arlington was established Aug. 13, 1974, by Pope
Paul VI. It has a total Catholic population of 457,874. There are 69 parishes
and five missions covering 21 counties and 6,500 square miles. Bishops Thomas
J. Welsh and John R. Keating were Arlington’s first two bishops.

 

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