Tuscon's Bishop Gerald Kicanas named new CRS Board Chair

                       BISHOP KICANAS NAMED CHAIRMAN OF

                           CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES BOARD,
                              SUCCEEDS ARCHBISHOP DOLAN

                       Four Bishops Also Elected to the CRS Board

Baltimore, MD, November 17, 2010—Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, Arizona, has been appointed chairman of the Catholic Relief Services Board of Directors. Cardinal Francis George, OMI, of Chicago, outgoing president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), made the appointment with the full support of Archbishop Timothy Dolan during today’s executive session of the USCCB’s annual Fall General Assembly in Baltimore.

Bishop Kicanas, the outgoing vice president of the USCCB, succeeds Archbishop Dolan of New York as CRS chairman. Archbishop Dolan vacated the CRS position upon his election as the new president of the USCCB November 16th.

“I am particularly pleased that Bishop Kicanas has been selected as Chairman of the Board of CRS,” said CRS President Ken Hackett. “Bishop Kicanas is well known to us and has been a good friend to CRS for many years, both in our work overseas and in the U.S. “We have collaborated on a range of issues and Bishop Kicanas has made it a point to visit many of our CRS offices in his overseas travels. We have been inspired by his commitment to the poor and vulnerable throughout the world. We look forward to his leadership at this important moment in CRS history,” Mr. Hackett said.

The USCCB also elected four bishops to the CRS board: Bishop William Callahan, OFM Conv., of La Crosse, Wisconsin, Bishop Frank Dewane of Venice, Florida, Archbishop Michael Sheehan of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City. Archbishop Sheehan and Bishop Wester were reelected to a second three-year term. The newly elected board members, Bishop Callahan and Bishop Dewane, will serve on the CRS Board for an initial term of three years with the option to serve another three years.

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. The agency alleviates suffering and provides assistance to people in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. For more information, please visit www.crs.org or www.crsespanol.org.


                            

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