Robert Nugent Lynch

infobox bishopbiog


name = Bishop Robert Lynch
religion = Catholic Church
See = Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg
Title = Bishop of St. Petersburg
Period = January 26, 1996— present
consecration = January 26, 1996
Predecessor = Archbishop John Clement Favalora
Successor = Incumbent
ordination = May 13, 1978
bishops =
date of birth = birth date and age|1941|5|27
place of birth = Charleston, WV|

:"This is about a bishop from Florida, for the physician see Robert Clyde Lynch."

Robert Nugent Lynch (born 1941) is the current Bishop of St. Petersburg, Florida. He was ordained and installed as the fourth Bishop of St. Petersburg on January 26, 1996.

Education

Bishop Lynch received his bachelor of arts degree from the Pontifical College Josephinum in Worthington, Ohio in May 1963 and his master of divinity degree from Pope John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, Massachusetts in May, 1978. That same month, he was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Miami.

Pastoral work

As a priest for the Archdiocese, Lynch served as associate pastor of St. James in North Miami, and rector and president of St. John Vianney College Seminary in Miami. His most recent assignment before coming to St. Petersburg was in Fort Lauderdale as the pastor of St. Mark Catholic Church.

Episcopacy

On December 5, 1995, Pope John-Paul II appointed Lynch the fourth Bishop of St. Petersburg to fill the vacancy left when John Favalora was named Archbishop of Miami a year prior.

Lynch was consecrated and installed as Bishop on January 26, 1996. Archbishop Favalora served as Principal Consecrator with Archbishop Edward McCarthy and Archbishop Paul Casimir Marcinkus serving as Principal Co-Consecrators.

Bishop Lynch is known for his time spent as the General Secretary of the United States Catholic Conference (USCC) and the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB).

Bishop Lynch was appointed the Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Palm Beach, while remaining the Bishop of St. Petersburg, on June 6, 1998. He remained administrator until November 12, 1998 when Bishop Anthony O'Connell was appointed to fill the vacancy.

Bishop Lynch continued the reorganization and management of the diocese begun under Archbishop Favalora. He commissioned the building of a new Pastoral Center, and on March 31, 2000, the newly erected Bishop W. Thomas Larkin Pastoral Center was formally dedicated. He also took an active role in planning for the future construction of new Catholic high schools, and improvements to the existing schools.

Lynch's tenure as bishop has not remained without controversy. Former diocesan employee Bill Urbanski accused the church leader of sexual advances, but those were later proven unfounded by a church tribunal. Instances of sexual miscondunct were also alleged by clergy, but since the early 2000s, there have been no apparent coverups.

Lynch was heavily criticized for failing to act on behalf of Terri Schiavo, a Catholic woman who died thirteen days after a court ordered her feeding tube removed [http://www.seattlecatholic.com/misc_20050308.html] . Many Catholics, including Terri Schiavo's family, were upset Lynch did not use his position of leadership to do more on her behalf.

External links

* [http://www.dioceseofstpete.org/index.cfm Diocese of St. Petersburg]
* [http://www.terrisfight.org/ Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation]
* [http://www.rcf.org/about.htm Roman Catholic Faithful]
* [http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=46726 Euthanasia is assassination, Vatican official says]
* [http://home.catholicweb.com/Bishop_DOSP/index.cfm/NewsItem?ID=192167&From=Home Bishop Lynch Biography]
* [http://www.theinterim.com/2007/nov/08schindler.html Clerical Response to Terri Schiavo's Death]