Bishop names Msgr. Harrington rector of St. Joseph Co-Cathedral
As of this year, Brooklyn’s Catholic community has two cathedrals – the traditional seat of the bishop. Saint James, in downtown Brooklyn, has been a cathedral since the founding of the Brooklyn Diocese in 1853. But in February, in one of his last acts as pope, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI elevated Saint Joseph’s Church in Prospect Heights to the status of co-cathedral alongside St. James.
Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, who had appointed the Rev. Msgr. Kieran Harrington, the diocese’s vicar of communications, to serve as the administrator of the St. Joseph five years ago, recently promoted him to be the rector. The bishop presided over a mass at St. Joseph on Sept. 15 to officially install Msgr. Harrington as the rector.
A rector is a religious leader who stands in as the representative of the bishop at a co-cathedral. The bishop is technically the pastor of a cathedral.