The Holy Father, Pope Francis, has appointed Msgr. Edward Bernard Scharfenberger as bishop of Albany (area 26,975, population 1,374,000, Catholics 337,200, priests 248, permanent deacons 105, religious 774) U.S.A.
The bishop-elect was born in Brooklyn, U.S.A. in 1948 and was ordained a priest in 1973. He holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the “Cathedral College of the Immaculate Conception” in Douglaston, a bachelor’s degree in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University, a licentiate in moral theology from the Alphonsianum Academy, Rome, a licentiate in canon law from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and a “Juris Doctor” in civil law from the Fordham University in the Bronx.
He has served in the following pastoral roles: vicar in the parish of “St. Stanislaus Kostka” in Maspeth and the “St. Ephrem” parish in Brooklyn; judicial vicar; priest in the “St. Matthias” parish, Ridgewood; promoter of justice and episcopal vicar for strategic planning. He is currently episcopal vicar for the territory of Queens.
He succeeds Bishop Howard J. Hubbard, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.