GREENSBURG – Pope John Paul II has accepted the resignation of Greensburg Bishop Anthony G. Bosco and named Msgr. Lawrence E. Brandt, J.C.D., Ph.D., chancellor of the Diocese of Erie, his successor.
Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, papal nuncio to the United States, announced the appointment of Greensburg’s fourth bishop on Jan. 2 in Washington.
Bishop Bosco has served as bishop of Greensburg since June 1987. He had submitted his letter of resignation on Aug. 1, 2002, his 75th birthday. Seventy-five is the typical retirement age for diocesan bishops.
Msgr. Brandt was born March 27, 1939, in Charleston, W.Va., the son of Priscilla and the late Lawrence Brandt. As a young boy, he moved with his family to the Diocese of Erie.Bishop-elect Lawrence E. BrandtIn addition to his diocesan positions, Msgr. Brandt served for many years in the Vatican diplomatic service and since 1998 has been a priest at St. Hedwig Parish, Erie.
He received his high school and college education at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, and later earned a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Innsbruck, Austria. He completed his theological studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he was ordained a priest at St. Peter’s Basilica on Dec. 19, 1969. In 1983, he earned a doctor of canon law degree at the Lateran University in Rome.
Also a graduate of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in Rome, a school for the training of papal diplomats, the bishop-elect has served at Vatican embassies in Madagascar, Germany, Ecuador and Algeria. He speaks German, French, Italian and Spanish.
After returning to the Diocese of Erie in 1983, he was appointed the diocese’s assistant chancellor and chaplain at the Gannondale Residential Center for Girls, a rehabilitation center for adolescents in Erie. He also has held positions with the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference and is a member of the board of regents of Saint Vincent Seminary, Latrobe, as well as a past member of the board of trustees of Gannon University, Erie. He was named the Diocese of Erie’s chancellor in 1991.
Speaking for the Diocese of Erie, Bishop Donald W. Trautman noted: “We applaud our Holy Father’s selection of Bishop-elect Brandt. We thank him for his generous service to the Diocese of Erie and pray that his shepherding of the Greensburg Diocese will be blessed abundantly by God.”
Upon Friday’s acceptance of Bishop Bosco’s resignation, the Greensburg Diocese’s board of consultors has eight days to elect an administrator to oversee the affairs of the diocese until Bishop-elect Brandt’s installation. (The consultors are a clergy board.) The installation date has not yet been set.
ARCHABBOT DOUGULAS NOWICKI’S STATMENT ON THE APPOINTMENT OF BISHOP BRANDT JANUARY 2, 2004
“The Benedictine Community at Saint Vincent Archabbey extends heartfelt congratulations and warmest wishes to Bishop-elect Brandt on the occasion of his appointment as the fourth Bishop of the Diocese of Greensburg. Our Holy Father has blessed our Diocese with an experienced and talented chief shepherd.
“The Benedictine Community looks forward to working with Bishop Brandt in the years to come. We also take this opportunity to express our gratitude for the years of service he has given as a member of the Board of Regents of Saint Vincent Seminary and for his leadership as Chairman of the Academic Affairs Committee of the Seminary. As our Local Ordinary, we look forward to working with him in strengthening our educational apostolates in the college and seminary.
“The Benedictine Community is grateful for the many years of friendship with his family. His great-grandfather came here to America at the time of our founder, Archabbot Boniface Wimmer, and lived at a farm in the shadow of our monastery. His grandfather, Giles Brandt, laid brick in the Basilica in the days of construction. His grandfather and grandmother, Stella, are buried in our cemetery here at Saint Vincent. The relationship now begins a new chapter with Bishop Brandt’sappointment as Bishop of Greensburg.
“We also take this opportunity to express our gratitude to Bishop Anthony Bosco who has served our Diocese for nearly 17 years. We are grateful for his service to Saint Vincent Seminary as a member and past Chairman of the Board of Regents and to Saint Vincent College as a member of the Board of Directors. Bishop Bosco is a graduate of Saint Vincent College (’49) and Seminary (’52). He also received an honorary doctorate from the College in 1989.”
