Washington D.C., Dec 7, 2005 / 22:00 pm
Fr. James Massa of Brooklyn and professor at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington, N.Y., has been named executive director of the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, effective in January.
Fr. Massa succeeds Fr. Arthur Kennedy of Boston, who served the office for nearly four years. Fr. Kennedy will return to teaching at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn.
“Father Massa is a gifted scholar and a fine priest with significant ecumenical and pastoral experience,” said Msgr. William Fay. “We are fortunate that he will direct an office whose mission is so vitally important to the life of the Church.”
Fr. Massa completed undergraduate work at Boston College, where he earned a BA in Theology and History and at the University of Durham in England. He earned a M. Div. at Yale University Divinity School.