Frank Joseph Dewane

infobox bishopstyles
name=Frank Dewane
dipstyle=The Most Reverend
offstyle=Your Excellency
relstyle=Monsignor
deathstyle=not applicable |

Frank Joseph Dewane (born March 9, 1950) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the second and current Bishop of Venice in Florida.

Biography

Frank Dewane was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin, as the third of the four children of Ben and Eleanor Dewane, Irish Catholics who owned and operated a dairy farm. He attended Denmark High School, where played lineman on the football team, and worked at his parents' factory during his summer vacations to pay for college [Herald Tribune. [http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060723/NEWS/607230473 An unlikely path to ordination] July 23, 2006] . He studied at the University of Wisconsin, from where he obtained his Bachelor's degree in Social Sciences, from 1968 to 1972, and at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., earning a Master's degree in International Administration, from 1973 to 1975. He then did a year's study at George Washington University.

Dewane worked for the NBC in Moscow and then for a subsidiary of PepsiCo in New York City before choosing an ecclesiastical career. He studied philosophy at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana (1983-1984), and then traveled to Rome, where he attended the Pontifical North American College (1984-1988) and studied theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University (1986) and canon law at the Angelicum. Dewane was ordained to the priesthood on July 16, 1988, and then served as assistant pastor at [http://sspeterpaulgreenbay.parishesonline.com/scripts/HostedSites/Org.asp?ID=3226 Ss. Peter and Paul Parish] in Green Bay until 1991. He worked for the diocesan tribunal as well.

In 1991, he was named by the Vatican to its Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations in New York City. Dewane entered the service of the Roman Curia upon becoming an official of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum" in 1995. From 2001 to 2006, he served as Undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. During his tenure as Undersecretary, he acted as a Vatican diplomat to numerous international conferences and other events.

On April 25, 2006, Dewane was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Venice in Florida by Pope Benedict XVI. He received his episcopal consecration on the following July 25 from Bishop John Nevins, with Archbishops John Favalora and Diarmuid Martin serving as co-consecrators, in St. Mary's Cathedral. He took as his episcopal motto: "Iustitia Pax Gaudium", meaning, "Justice, Peace, and Joy" ( [http://www.drbo.org/chapter/52014.htm Romans 14:17] ).

Dewane later succeeded Nevins as the second Bishop of Venice in Florida on January 19, 2007. As Bishop, he leads the 250,000 Catholics of Southwest Florida.

He is considered to be moderate in his views, being theologically conservative yet economically and socially progressive [Ibid.] . However, he aroused a certain controversy shortly after his nomination as Coadjutor Bishop when he stated that Communion should not be withheld to Catholic politicians who oppose some of the Church's teachings [Hearald Tribune. [http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060721/NEWS/607210511/1006/SPORTS New bishop plans to be vocal politically] July 21, 2006] . He attended St. Margaret's Catholic Church in Clewiston FL, on May 5, 2008, for a confirmation ceremony, in which he presided.

References

External links

* [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bdewane.html Catholic-Hierarchy]
* [http://www.dioceseofvenice.org/bishop/bishopbio.cfm?CFID=2195484&CFTOKEN=72099357 Diocese of Venice]
* [http://nccbuscc.org/comm/archives/2006/06-081.shtml USCCB Office of Media Relations]