Vatican City, May 22, 2010 / 08:30 am
U.S. service men and women received good news on Saturday morning when Pope Benedict XVI named current Army chaplain Fr. F. Richard Spencer as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services.
The head of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, welcomed the news of Bishop-elect Spencer's appointment by saying it “represents one more sign of the paternal care of our Holy Father for all of us.”
Archbishop Broglio highlighted the bishop-elect's extensive military experience as well as his educational and spiritual formation. “That experience,” the archbishop said, “will certainly contribute to the richness of the episcopal ministry to which he is now called.”
Bishop-elect Spencer began his military career as a commissioned U.S. Army officer in 1973, and in 1974 began serving active duty. After serving as the Commander of the Military Police Detachment at Ft. McCoy in Wisconsin, Bishop-elect Spencer was deployed in the summer of 1977 with the 2nd IN Div MP Company to Camp Casey, Korea.