It is with great joy that we welcome Bishop-Elect Edward Scharfenberger of the Diocese of Brooklyn, as the 10th diocesan bishop of Albany.

For the past 37 years I have had the privilege of serving as Bishop in the Diocese of Albany – a community consisting of 14 counties spread over 10,000 square miles, stretching from the Pennsylvania border to the Vermont border; from the Massachusetts state line to the Utica City line; from the Northern Catskills to the Southern Adirondacks. It is a territory dotted with cities, towns, villages, suburban and rural communities. It is an area blessed with not only magnificent physical beauty but most important with the rich and vibrant spiritual splendor of its 350,000 priests, deacons, religious and lay faithful. We greet him with warmth, hospitality and a sincere desire to be attentive and responsive to his leadership as our shepherd.

Bishop-Elect Scharfenberger has a rich background as both a canon and civil lawyer, as the head of the Judicial Tribunal in Brooklyn, and as pastor for 12 years in St. Matthias in Ridgewood, a multiethnic parish, where he has gained fluency in a multitude of languages, which I am sure will serve him well in our Diocese and will be most appreciated by our growing Hispanic speaking community. Currently, he is serving as the Episcopal Vicar for Queens.

So we are most grateful that our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has graced us with such a gifted shepherd and we pledge him our prayers, loyalty, support and love.