Bishop Joseph P. McFadden of the Diocese of Harrisburg announced this morning that Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Very Reverend William J. Waltersheid as Auxiliary Bishop of Pittsburgh. He will be introduced at a news conference at the Pastoral Center in Pittsburgh at 10:00 a.m. today. Currently Bishop Elect Waltersheid is serving as Secretary for Clergy and Consecrated Life for the Diocese of Harrisburg.
Bishop McFadden said in a statement on the appointment, “Father Waltersheid is an outstanding priest who has served this Diocese in an exemplary fashion.” He went on to say, “While we are sad that he will no longer be serving in the Church in Harrisburg we know he will be a great blessing for the Catholic Church in Pittsburgh and will be an asset to the work of proclaiming the Gospel in the Lord’s vineyard in the Western part of our state.”
Bishop Elect Waltersheid will be ordained a Bishop on April 25, 2011 in Saint Paul Cathedral in Pittsburgh. In a prepared statement he stated that he was profoundly humbled by the appointment. He credited his parents by saying, “I come from hard-working people who have lived their Catholic Faith generously and have loved the Church tremendously.” He also thanked the faithful of the Diocese of Harrisburg for their love, support and prayers through the years saying, “You have all taught me so much about the beauty of living our life in Christ.”
An Auxiliary Bishop is a Bishop who is appointed to a Diocese when the pastoral needs of a Diocese suggest it and the Bishop of a Diocese requests it. The Auxiliary Bishop assists the Diocesan Bishop in carrying out his administrative responsibilities for that particular Diocese.
Bishop Elect Waltersheid is the fourth priest of the Diocese of Harrisburg to be appointed Bishop. The first was Bishop Lawrence F. Schott who served as an Auxiliary Bishop for the Diocese of Harrisburg from 1956 until his death in 1963. Cardinal William Keeler, retired of Baltimore, was named as an Auxiliary Bishop for the Diocese in 1979. In 2004 then Father Kevin C. Rhoades became the third priest of the diocese to rise to Bishop when he was appointed to lead the Diocese of Harrisburg. In 1990 a priest of the Diocese of Pittsburgh became the Bishop of Harrisburg. He was Bishop Nicholas C. Dattilo who served until his death in 2004.
Bishop Elect Waltersheid, 54, was born in Ashland, Pennsylvania, the son of the late William F. and Margaret M. (Deane) Waltersheid. He was baptized in St. Joseph Church in Locust Gap and spent his childhood and early adult years there. An only child, he lived with his parents and maternal grandfather. He was educated in the Mount Carmel Area School System and was given religious instruction by the Sisters of St. Felix of Cantalice (Felician Sisters) of Holy Spirit School in Mount Carmel. After having graduated high school in 1974, he worked in the health care field. He was graduated from the Pottsville Hospital School of Nursing in 1983. Father Waltersheid was very active in his home parish of St. Joseph in Locust Gap and taught religious education classes in neighboring parishes as an adult.
In 1985 he was accepted as a candidate for the seminary formation program of the Diocese of Harrisburg. He studied at St. John Seminary College in Brighton, Massachusetts and received a Bachelor’s Degree in Liberal Arts with a concentration in philosophy and classical languages. In 1988 Father Waltersheid was sent by Bishop William H. Keeler to the Pontifical North American College in Rome for continued formation for the priesthood. He received a Bachelor’s Degree in Theology in 1991 from the Pontifical Gregorian University and a Licentiate in Dogmatic Theology from that same university. He was ordained a deacon in Rome on April 30, 1992 by Pio Cardinal Laghi and a priest in Harrisburg on July 11, 1992 by Bishop Nicholas C. Dattilo. He remained in Rome for further studies until 1995 when he returned to the Diocese of Harrisburg and was assigned as parochial vicar at Prince of Peace Parish in Steelton. In 1999 Father Waltersheid returned to Rome and served on the faculty of the Pontifical North American College until 2003. He served for one year as Director of Apostolic Works and then for three years as Vice Rector of the seminary. In June of 2003 he was appointed pastor of St. Patrick Parish in Carlisle. In June of 2006 he was appointed Diocesan Secretary for Clergy and Consecrated Life by Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades.
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