Vatican City, Nov 19, 2019 / 06:00 am
Pope Francis Tuesday appointed Msgr. Francis Malone, pastor of an Arkansas parish known for having generated many priestly vocations, as the next bishop of Shreveport, Louisiana.
Malone, 69, is the pastor of Christ the King in Little Rock, Arkansas, a parish which has produced at 6 priests and 6 seminarians since 2006. Before he became pastor in 2001, the parish had not had any vocations.
"Msgr. Francis Malone ... showed me how pure joy can be infectious, and that made me want to be a priest from an early age," Daniel Wendel, a seminarian from Christ the King parish, wrote on the Diocese of Little Rock website this year.
Other seminarians and parishioners pointed to Msgr. Malone's example as among the reasons why their parish has drawn many men to the priesthood. Malone himself credited Eucharistic Adoration.