Vatican City, Mar 22, 2004 / 22:00 pm
Pope John Paul II appointed today Bishop Joseph Anthony Galante, coadjutor of Dallas (Texas) as the new Bishop of Camden (New Jersey); and appointed Bishop George Thomas, auxiliary of the archdiocese of Seattle (Washington) as the new Bishop of Helena (Montana.)
Bishop Joseph Anthony Galante was born in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) on July 2, 1938. He studied at the “Saint Charles Borromeo” Seminary in Overbrook (Pennsylvania) from 1954 to 1964 and was ordained priest for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia on May 16, 1964.
He studied Canon Law at the Pontifical Lateran University and in 1968 he was sent to serve at the Diocese of Brownsville (Texas) until 1972.
He then returned to Philadelphia and served at the Metropolitan Tribunal and professor of Canon Law at the “Saint Charles Borromeo” Seminary. From 1979 to 1987 was the Vicar for Religious, from 1987 to 1992, Undersecretary at the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life at the Vatican.
He was appointed Auxiliary of San Antonio (Texas) on October 13, 1992, and appointed bishop of Beaumont (Texas) in 1994. On November 23 1999, he became the Coadjutor of Dallas (Texas.)
Bishop Galante is currently the President of the Committee for Social Communications and a member of the Committee for the Administration of the Pontifical North American College in Rome.
Bishop George L. Thomas was born in Anaconda (Montana) on May 19, 1950. He studied at the “Saint Thomas Seminary” in Seattle (Washington,) where he also obtained a Masters in Psychology in 1983 and a degree in History in 1986.
He was ordained priest for the Archdiocese of Seattle on May 22, 1976.
From 1976 to 1987 he was appointed vicar at the Holy Family Parish in Kirkland and then at the Saint James Cathedral in Seattle. He was also prison chaplain at the state penitentiary. In 1987 he was appointed Chancellor and Vicar General of Seattle. In 1996 he was elected Diocesan Administrator after the death of Archbishop Thomas Murphy.
He was appointed Auxiliary bishop of Seattle on November 19, 1999.