Burlington, Vt., Mar 7, 2005 / 22:00 pm
Vermont’s upcoming coadjutor bishop has a strong pro-life track record and is known to be an advocate for the poor. Msgr. Salvatore R. Matano will be ordained a bishop April 19 and serve as coadjutor to Bishop Kenneth A. Angell.
He is likely to succeed Bishop Angell, who is expected to resign in August when he turns 75, according to canon law.
As former co-chancellor and vicar general of the Diocese of Providence, Msgr. Matano had engaged in a public debate in the 1980s with Mary Ann Sorrentino, the then-executive director of Planned Parenthood of Rhode Island.
Sorrentino had released a letter she had received from Msgr. Matano advising her that she had excommunicated herself from the Catholic Church because of her "direct involvement" with abortion.