Holy Father announces appointment of Bishop of Little Rock

Little Rock, Ark., Apr 10, 2008 / 07:34 am

Today Pope Benedict appointed Father Anthony B. Taylor as the seventh bishop of Little Rock.   Bishop-elect Taylor is currently a priest in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and will replace Bishop J. Peter Sartain who was appointed to the Diocese of Joliet, Illinois in 2006.

According to the Diocese of Little Rock, Bishop-elect Taylor was born in Texas in 1954 and is the oldest of seven children.  After studying at St. Meinrad Seminary College in Indiana and later in Rome, he was ordained a priest in 1980.

The bishop-elect also earned his doctorate in biblical theology from Fordham University in 1989.

Since ordination Father Taylor has served as vicar for ministries; minister to priests; director of the permanent diaconate Program; chairman of the Presbyteral Council, Clergy Personnel Board and Clergy Retirement Board; and as a member of the Archdiocesan Finance Council.  He also has extensive experience in Hispanic ministry.

While serving as a priest in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, Bishop-elect Taylor Father Taylor also became the episcopal delegate for the cause of canonization for Father Stanley Rother, an Oklahoma priest who was martyred in Guatemala in 1981.  The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City sponsored and staffed a parish there from 1963-2001. 

Father Taylor will replace Bishop J. Peter Sartain who has been serving as the bishop of Joliet, Illinois since June 2006.