.- This morning Pope John Paul II appointed Bishop Arthur Joseph Serratelli, auxiliary of the archdiocese of Newark, as the new Bishop of Paterson (New Jersey).
Bishop Serratelli was born on April18, 1944 in Newark; he studied at Seton Hall Preparatory School and at Seton Hall University. He completed his theological studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. In 1975 he graduated in Holy Scriptures at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome and in Biblical Theology in 1977.
He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Newark on December 20, 1968. He served as vicar at Saint Anthony Parish in Belleville and after completing his studies became a professor at the Immaculate Conception Seminary in Newark.
In 1997 he was elected as Rector of the College Seminary, Seton Hall University.
He was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Newark on July 3, 2000.
Bishop Serratelli speaks Italian, French and the Biblical languages.
He succeeds Bishop Frank Joseph Rodimer whose resignation the Holy Father accepted upon having reached the age limit.
