Joseph P. McFadden

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Styles of Joseph P. McFadden


Reference style	The Most Reverend
Spoken style	Your Excellency
Religious style	Monsignor
Posthumous style	not applicable

Joseph Patrick McFadden, VG (born May 22, 1947) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, who currently serves as an auxiliary bishop of Philadelphia.

[edit] Biography

Born in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, Joseph McFadden attended Saint Joseph's University and was a high school teacher and basketball coach before entering St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, from where he obtained his Master's degree in Divinity. He was ordained to the priesthood by John Cardinal Krol on May 16, 1981, and served as private secretary to Cardinal Krol for eleven years. He served as president of Cardinal O'Hara High School in Springfield from 1993 to 2001, whence he became pastor of St. Joseph Church in Downingtown.

On June 28, 2004, McFadden was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia and Titular Bishop of Horreomargum by Pope John Paul II. He received his episcopal consecration on the following July 28 from Justin Cardinal Rigali, with Bishops Robert Maginnis and Michael Burbidge serving as co-consecrators, in the Cathedral-Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul.

Later that year, McFadden expressed his opposition to the holding of a gay rights event at his alma mater of St. Joseph's University, saying, "While the Church asks that we recognize the unique dignity of every human person, it does not mean supporting a lifestyle that is contrary to the natural law"^[1]. He was considered one of the likely candidates to succeed Donald Wuerl as Bishop of Pittsburgh following the latter's promotion to Archbishop of Washington^[2].

The Bishop currently heads the Secretariat of Catholic Education in the archdiocesan curia. Since 1993, he has been an adjunct spiritual director at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, a member of the archdiocesan Committee for the Ongoing Formation of the Clergy, and a mentor in the archdiocesan Pastoral Leadership Institute.