SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — More than two dozen priests from around the country have celebrated an installation mass to welcome Bishop Blase Cupich as the leader of the Spokane Catholic Diocese.
The Spokesman-Review reports that several thousand people filled Gonzaga University’s McCarthey Center on Friday for the ceremony.
Cupich, the former head of the Diocese of Rapid City in South Dakota, was appointed in June to replace retiring Bishop William Skylstad. He now leads about 90,000 Roman Catholics in some 80 parishes in the Spokane Diocese.
During his homily, Cupich told parishioners they must not give up on their church despite the clergy sex abuse scandal that has bankrupted the diocese and may force it to sell some churches to pay victims.
