| His Excellency George Hugh Niederauer |
|
|---|---|
| Archbishop of San Francisco | |
Archbishop George Niederauer (left) with Father Gregory Boyle and Jeff Bialik. |
|
| Church | Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption |
| Archdiocese | San Francisco |
| See | San Francisco |
| Enthroned | February 15, 2006 |
| Predecessor | William Levada |
| Successor | Incumbent |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | April 30, 1962 |
| Consecration | January 25, 1995 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | June 14, 1936 Los Angeles, California |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
George Hugh Niederauer (born June 14, 1936) is an American bishop of the Roman Catholic Church. He currently serves as the Archbishop of San Francisco. By virtue of his office as ordinary of the San Francisco archdiocese, Niederauer is also metropolitan archbishop of the ecclesiastical province of San Francisco, which includes the suffragan dioceses of Honolulu, Las Vegas, Oakland, Reno, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Jose, Santa Rosa, and Stockton. Niederauer previously served as Bishop of Salt Lake City from 1994 to 2005.
Contents |
| Styles of George Hugh Niederauer |
|
|---|---|
| Reference style | The Most Reverend |
| Spoken style | Your Excellency |
| Religious style | Monsignor |
George Niederauer was born in Los Angeles, California, the only child of George and Elaine Niederauer. He attended St. Anthony High School as a classmate of Cardinal William Levada. After graduating in 1954, he attended Stanford University. During his freshman year Niederauer changed course and decided to enter St. John's Seminary in Camarillo, from where in 1959 he earned a Bachelor of Philosophy degree. He further completed his studies with a Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and a Master of Arts degree in English Literature from Loyola University, Los Angeles in 1962. Niederauer also earned a Ph.D. in English Literature at USC.
Niederauer was ordained to the priesthood on April 30, 1962. He was raised to the rank of Honorary Prelate of His Holiness in 1984, and was appointed the eighth Bishop of Salt Lake City by Pope John Paul II on November 3, 1994. Niederauer received his episcopal consecration on January 25, 1995 from Cardinal Roger Mahony, with Archbishop William Levada and Bishop Tod David Brown serving as co-consecrators.
On December 15, 2005, Pope Benedict XVI named him to succeed William Levada as the eighth Metropolitan Archbishop of San Francisco, following Levada's appointment to Pope Benedict's former post of Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith in the Roman Curia. Archbishop Niederauer is the chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Communication, and a member of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.[1]
On August 29, 2011, Niederauer underwent emergency double by-pass heart surgery.[2]
In 2008, Archbishop Niederauer campaigned in favor of California's Proposition 8, a ballot measure to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry. Niederauer claims to have been instrumental in forging alliances between Catholics and Mormons to support the measure. Wrote the San Francisco Chronicle, "Niederauer drew in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and proved to be a critical move in building a multi-religious coalition—the backbone of the fundraising, organizing and voting support for the successful ballot measure. By bringing together Mormons and Catholics, Niederauer would align the two most powerful religious institutions in the Prop. 8 battle."[3]
On film, Niederauer "liked" Syriana and thought Munich "too long".[1]. The archbishop had no qualms affirming that he had seen Brokeback Mountain, making him the first senior American cleric to state publicly that he has viewed the film. When asked for his reaction he said that "I thought it was very powerful, and I probably had a different take on it than a lot of people did.... It was a story not only about the relationship between the two principal characters, but very much a cluster of relationships... And I think in all of that one of the lessons is the destructiveness of not being honest with yourself, and not being honest with other people - and not being faithful, trying to live a double life, and what that does to each of the lives you try to live".
| Catholic Church titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by William Kenneth Weigand |
Bishop of Salt Lake City 1994–2005 |
Succeeded by John Charles Wester |
| Preceded by William Levada |
Archbishop of San Francisco 2006–present |
Incumbent |