Pope Francis appoints new bishop of Gary, Indiana

Gary, Ind., Nov 26, 2019 / 07:10 am (CNA).- Msgr. Robert J. McClory has been appointed as the fifth bishop of the Diocese of Gary, Indiana, the Vatican announced on Tuesday, Nov. 26.

The Diocese of Gary, in northwestern Indiana, is part of the metropolitan province of Indianapolis. The diocese is home to 170,203 Catholics and has been sede vacante since April 25, when Bishop Donald J. Hying was named the new bishop of the Diocese of Madison. McClory will be consecrated and installed as the new bishop of Gary on Feb. 11, 2020.

McClory was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Detroit on May 22, 1999, and was given the honorific title “monsignor” in 2005. He has been the pastor of the parish of the National Shrine of the Little Flower Basilica in Royal Oak, MI, since July 2017. McClory celebrated his first Mass at the shrine in 1999.

“I am honored and humbled that the Holy Father has appointed me as the bishop of Gary. During this week in which we celebrate Thanksgiving, my heart is full of gratitude that he has entrusted me to serve the people of northwest Indiana,” Bishop-elect McClory said in a statement published by the Archdiocese of Detroit.

“I look forward to getting to know the needs of our local church and, together, sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ,” he added.

A native of Detroit, McClory has a Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School and worked as a civil lawyer from 1991 until 1994, when he entered seminary. He received a bachelor’s degree in sacred theology in 1998 from Gregorian University in Rome, and received a canon law license from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas in Rome in 2000.

Since his ordination, McClory has been assigned to parishes throughout the archdiocese of Detroit. Since 2001, he has been a judge of the Detroit Metropolitan Tribunal, and he has taught canon law at Sacred Heart Major Seminary since 2002.

From 2009 until 2018, MCClory served as the Moderator of the Curia and Vicar General in the Archdiocese of Detroit. He has also acted as a consultant for the Catholic Leadership Institute, and served as a priest-observer for Region VI for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The Archdiocese of Detroit released a statement early Tuesday morning congratulating McClory for his appointment. USCCB Vice President Archbishop Allen Vigneron praised McClory as a “zealous priest who generously devotes all the talents God has blessed him with to the ministry of spreading the Gospel.”

“The pastors and people of the Church of Gary will find themselves blessed by his service,” said Vigneron. “We, the priests, religious and faithful of the Archdiocese of Detroit, send him on mission with our heartfelt prayers.”