Niederauer installed as archbishop

The former bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City, George Niederauer, was installed Wednesday as the archbishop of San Francisco and leader of 425,000 Catholics in the Bay area.

Archbishop Niederauer will head a diocese that includes 90 parishes and stretches across three counties — San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin.

He is one of 49 archbishops in the United States and only the second Catholic bishop from Salt Lake City to be named archbishop. The first was John Joseph Mitty, also named archbishop of San Francisco, in 1932.

A receptionist at the Salt Lake diocesan offices said Wednesday that "several" local Catholic clergy were in San Francisco Wednesday for the ceremonies but that they couldn't be reached by phone. Molly Dumas, director of development for Juan Diego Catholic High School in Draper, said she wasn't aware of any special activities at the school to track the California events.

"We just know that we'll miss him tremendously. He's been so ecumenically minded and open."

The new archbishop's public profile and political leanings on sensitive issues like homosexuality will likely continue to be under scrutiny for the foreseeable future.

He told the San Francisco Chronicle's gay-issues reporter last week that he doubts a recent Vatican instruction clarifying the church's teaching on homosexuality and the priesthood will create a need to change admission policies for St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park, Calif., which he will now oversee.

"I have read the document several times, and I certainly don't hear the document saying, 'Please engage in a witch hunt,' " the archbishop said.

The newspaper said the archbishop "believes a gay man can meet the criteria of the Vatican document and effectively minister," and one of his top priorities will be recruiting and training new priests.

He'll also be spotlighted in other ways.

Stanford University announced last week that the archbishop will join broadcast journalist Tom Brokaw and Vartan Gregorian, president of the Carnegie Corporation and former president of Brown University, as a commence- ment speaker. He'll offer the keynote baccalaureate address there on June 17.

Archbishop Niederauer came to Utah from Los Angeles, replacing Bishop William Weigand, who was named bishop of Sacramento in 1994.