New Diocesan Bishop named for the Diocese of Toledo

TOLEDO – The Most Rev. Daniel E. Thomas has been named the eighth Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Toledo. Thomas has been serving as an Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia since his Episcopal Ordination on July 26, 2006.

He fills the office left vacant by the Most Rev. Leonard P. Blair, who was installed as the Archbishop of Hartford, Conn., in December. Since that time, the Toledo Diocese has been under the direction of the Rev. Charles Ritter, serving as diocesan administrator.

Bishop Thomas will be installed as Bishop of Toledo at a Mass celebrated at 2 p.m. Oct. 22, at Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral, 2535 Collingwood Blvd., Toledo.

Thomas was born and raised in Philadelphia and attended Catholic elementary and high schools. He attended St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Pa., where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees. He also earned a licentiate in sacred theology in 1989 from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

Ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia on May 18, 1985, Thomas was first assigned as a parochial vicar at St. Joseph Parish in Aston, Pennsylvania. In 1990, he was assigned to serve the Holy See as an official of the Congregation for Bishops, the section of the Roman Curia primarily charged with coordinating the selection candidates for the episcopacy.

While serving at the Congregation for Bishops, Bishop Thomas also served as an adjunct spiritual director at the Pontifical North American College Seminary in Rome. In 1995 he was named Chaplain to His Holiness (Monsignor) by the late Pope John Paul II, who in 2005 also named him a Prelate of Honor. In October of the same year, Bishop Thomas returned to Pennsylvania and was appointed Pastor of Our Lady of the Assumption Parish in Stafford.

In 2006, he was ordained Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia, assisting the Archbishop with pastoral responsibilities and administrative duties at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center.