Vermont bishop to lead Archdiocese of Hartford
BLOOMFIELD — A Vermont bishop has been tapped to lead the Archdiocese of Hartford when Archbishop Leonard Blair retires next year, church leaders announced on Monday, kicking off a period of transition for the state's largest Catholic diocese.
Christopher J. Coyne, who serves as bishop of Burlington, Vt., was appointed by Pope Francis to serve as coadjutor archbishop — essentially archbishop-in-waiting — until Blair steps down in April upon reaching the retirement age of 75, in keeping with church law.
Blair, who has served as the archbishop in Hartford since 2013, said that he wrote a letter to the Vatican in December requesting that his successor be named early.
“With the passing of years and my own retirement age approaching, I told Pope Francis that the appointment of a coadjutor bishop would not only be helpful for me for the pastoral care of of the archdiocese, but would also provide my successor with the time to become familiar with the archdiocese, its clergy and people,” Blair said Monday.
The Pope's appointment was made in consultation with Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Vatican's ambassador to the United States, and comes as church attendance has dropped precipitously in recent years, along with a dwindling number of priests and nuns. The Catholic Church also continues to be rocked by allegations of abusive priests, with millions from
church coffers going to pay legal settlements in Connecticut alone.
Confronting those challenges while attempting to draw people back to the church, Coyne said, will be his “No. 1” priority when he takes over early next year.
“In the present culture, the place of organized religion is not held all that high,” Coyne told reporters during an introductory press conference on Monday. “Over and over I encourage our people preaching in the cathedral and elsewhere to always be reconcilers, to be people who don't divide but people of peace, people of hope.”
Over the next eight months, Coyne said his focus will be on familiarizing himself with the region, its local parish churches and religious orders, acknowledging that he has “a steep
learning curve” to overcome.
In Vermont, Coyne said he presides over a clergy of around 60 priests, while the Diocese of Hartford has more than 240 active and retired priests and a population of nearly half a million Catholics.
One of the first issues likely to face Coyne is consolidation within the diocese, including a plan to merge all the parishes within its largest city, New Haven. Coyne said that decisions about those mergers would remain within Blair's purview until his retirement takes effect.
A native of Woburn, Mass., Coyne entered the priesthood in Boston in 1986 after roughly a decade spent working as a dishwasher, sporting goods salesman, lifeguard, musician and as a bartender, according to his church biography.
When asked about the last in his list of vocations on Monday,
Coyne said that his experience working behind the bar featured relatively few confessions — and that much of what he took away from the profession came from his former co-workers.
“I learned very colorful phrases, which I don't tend to use anymore,” Coyne said. “I also learned about how people struggle... there were a lot of people there working two jobs to make ends meet.”
After working for more than two decades as a priest in Massachusetts and as a professor at St. John's Seminary in Brighton, Coyne was appointed to serve as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis in 2011, before moving to Vermont in 2015.
While in Vermont, he elicited attention for removing an unvaccinated pastor from his position after refusing to wear a mask or receive regular testing for COVID-19. He also spoke out against legislation loosening abortion restrictions in the state — while simultaneously acknowledging that many would accuse the church of hypocrisy for lecturing amid ongoing abuse scandals, according to VTDigger.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Coyne did not shy away from sensitive topics, even volunteering that he saw no issue with using a transgender person's preferred pronouns.
“I very much follow Pope Francis' understanding of accompaniment,” Coyne said. “You accept a person as they're presenting themselves to you at the moment.”
When asked whether he would follow other bishops' example of denying communion to Catholic politicians who espouse pro-choice beliefs, Coyne said he had dealt with such situations in Vermont by privately counseling some elected leaders to avoid the “scandal” of taking communion, while at the same time honoring their request if they did seek the sacrament. He said he would request that parish priests consult with him before making a decision in such circumstances.
“We're not policemen at the communion rail,” he said.
On the issue of the ongoing fallout from multiple abuse investigations within the church, Coyne said that he would not oppose compensation or legal settlements for the victims with a “serious allegation,” even if it went beyond the statute of limitations. As the leader of the Catholic Church in Vermont, Coyne apologized and pledged to help investigators looking into allegations of years of abuse at an church-run orphanage, but also faced criticism from some victims over the amount of compensation they were given.
Beyond offering monetary compensation, Coyne said Monday that he hoped to counsel victims into feeling comfortable returning to the church.
“That's the hardest thing, it's the saddest thing, when they leave the faith because they've been so abused,” Coyne said. “I'm ready to listen, I'm ready to do what I can to heal.”
A welcome Mass will be held for Coyne on Oct. 9 at St. Joseph Cathedral in Hartford. In the meantime, Coyne plans to take up residence within the archdiocese, which covers Hartford, Litchfield and New Haven counties.