W. Francis Malooly, a Parkville native who went from an altar boy at St. Ursula School to a priest who runs the day-to-day operations of the Archdiocese of Baltimore - historically one of the nation's most influential - was ordained a bishop yesterday.
In a ceremony at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen attended by about 30 cardinals and bishops and hundreds of priests, Malooly was presented with the symbols of his new office: a ring; a crosier, or brass shepherd's staff; the miter, or bishop's pointed hat; and a book of the Gospels, which he will teach and proclaim.
"When I became a priest 31 years ago, I had a good number of friends and family," Malooly told the approximately 2,000 people who packed the cavernous North Charles Street cathedral and greeted the new bishop with hearty, sustained applause. "I have a whole archdiocese of friends and family now, and I'm very grateful."
Malooly, 57, follows in the footsteps of his uncle, the late T. Austin Murphy, who was a bishop in Baltimore from 1962 until retiring in 1984.
Malooly, known as "Father Fran" before his appointment, will be one of three auxiliaries, or assistants, to Cardinal William H. Keeler, who ordained him yesterday. He replaces Bishop P. Francis Murphy, who died of cancer in September 1999.
For the past 12 years, Malooly has been chancellor and vicar general of the archdiocese, acting as the equivalent of a company's chief executive officer. In Keeler's absence, Malooly was the authority. Before that, he was the archdiocese's director of clergy personnel for five years, setting parish assignments for his brother priests.
The posts, though powerful, were never things he sought.
"It was more by coincidence that I ended up in the positions I had," he said. "And yet my sense has always been, I'll do what the bishop asks me to do."
It is not unusual for a man who has held the positions Malooly has to be fairly unpopular because of the decisions he has had to make. But that was not the case with the new bishop, judging from the affection demonstrated yesterday and the attendance of so many priests.
"So many priests and deacons," said a seemingly overwhelmed Malooly toward the end of the two-hour service. "I thought after my five years in clergy personnel you would never show up today."
The Rev. Robert F. Leavitt, president of St. Mary's University and Seminary in Roland Park, said the new bishop "enjoys incredible support, affection and esteem from his brother priests."
