Niederauer named San Francisco archbishop

Bishop George H. Niederauer, who has led Utah's 200,000 Catholics for the past 10 years, has been named archbishop of San Francisco. The announcement was issued from the Vatican on Thursday.

The down-to-earth, approachable Bishop Niederauer — who earlier this week tromped through the snow in City Creek Canyon with 10 students from Judge Memorial Catholic High School — will be installed as archbishop on Feb. 15, at San Francisco's Cathedral of Saint Mary.

Archbishops, like bishops, do not apply for their jobs. In fact, Bishop Niederauer was not even told he was being considered to become head of the San Francisco Archdiocese. The news came out of the blue in a phone call from the U.S. ambassador from the Vatican just 10 days ago, Bishop Niederauer said Thursday from San Francisco.

Bishop Niederauer becomes one of only 49 Roman Catholic archbishops in the United States. A few of these are retired and a few have become cardinals; the others oversee a total of 37 archdioceses.

He is the first Salt Lake Diocese bishop to be appointed an archbishop since 1932, when Bishop John Joseph Mitty was also named archbishop of San Francisco.

"His sharp mind, quick wit, compassionate heart and generosity are qualities we will greatly miss," says Monsignor J. Terrence Fitzgerald, vicar general of the Diocese of Salt Lake City. The monsignor hailed Bishop Niederauer for "his ability to reach out to individuals and make them feel part of the community process."

Bishop Niederauer has served on the Coalition for Utah's Future, was president of the Utah Coalition Against Pornography, and served on the Alliance for Unity, established in 2001 to help bridge religious and ethnic divides in Utah.

His approach is "something that transcends tolerance," said Elder Alexander Morrison, emeritus member of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who served on the Alliance for Unity with him. "It represents something higher: respect, understanding and acceptance."

In 2004, Bishop Niederauer received the Gandhi Peace Award from the Gandhi Alliance for Peace.

As archbishop of San Francisco, Bishop Niederauer will oversee 90 parishes, 11 chapels and 425,000 Catholics in a three-county area that includes San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin. Organizationally he will also oversee a church province that stretches from Utah to Honolulu.

But theologically, all bishops and archbishops are equal, "and they all relate to Rome directly, one to one," explains the Rev. Robert Bussen of St. Mary's Church in Park City. As archbishop, Bishop Niederauer can't intervene in the work of another diocese, but if a bishop or diocese gets in trouble, the Rev. Bussen adds, "it would fall to the archbishop to work it out."