Queens native, Bishop Peter A. Libasci, auxiliary of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, was appointed as Bishop of Manchester, N.H., on Sept. 19.
The bishop-elect was born in Jackson Heights in 1951. He attended St. Margaret’s School, Middle Village; Cathedral Prep, Elmhurst; St. John’s University, Jamaica; and the St. Meinrad School of Theology in Meinrad, Ind. He was ordained a priest in 1978.
In the Diocese of Rockville Centre, he worked as parochial vicar, then pastor in a number of parishes before being ordained an auxiliary bishop in 2007. Prior to episcopal ordination, he was the pastor of St.Therese of Lisieux, Montauk Point.
He succeeds Bishop John B. McCormack, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.
Bishop Libasci will serve a diocese with 309,987 Catholics, 269 priests, 52 permanent deacons 52, and 528 members of religious communities.
He will be installed as Manchester’s new bishop Dec. 8 at St. Joseph Cathedral.
“When in 2007, I was told that I was chosen to be an auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Rockville Centre, I was overwhelmed at the thought that anyone knew that I even existed,” Bishop Libasci said.
“And now, four years later, I have been called, yet again, but now to be the bishop and shepherd of the church, the household of faith in, what will be for me a new home, a new family, a new beginning in grace.”
The bishop added that he was eager to be in the Diocese of Manchester and New Hampshire. “I desire so much to meet all of you and to see Christ so alive and so present in you. I desire so much to share in this work that is ours: to be true to and thus carry on the mission of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
He thanked Bishop McCormack for his “years of ministry and faithful witness” and also thanked Bishop William F. Murphy of Rockville Centre, the priests and deacons, and the lay Catholics of that diocese, saying it was a privilege to serve as priest and bishop there.
He also expressed gratitude “to my parents, who gave me life, and to my family, friends and my holy Catholic Church – all who have sustained me to this very hour.”
In a telephone interview from Manchester that was broadcast Sept. 19 on NET television, Bishop Libasci said he was spending a day in his new diocese visiting diocesan orgnizations and a food pantry.
He also praised the education he received from the Dominican sisters at St. Margaret’s and said he was impressed by the current preistly formation programs in the Diocese of Brooklyn.
In a statement, Bishop Murphy said he would miss Bishop Libasci’s “wise counsel and tireless apostolic spirit” as vicar of Rockville Centre’s eastern region but added that he rejoiced in the fact the pope chose one of the diocese’s priests to be Manchester’s bishop.