coadjutor

Soon after he arrived at the Diocese of Newark in 1976 as bishop coadjutor, a steppingstone to bishop, the diocese became one of the first to ordain women to the priesthood.

Nieves had been named “coadjutor bishop” for Riobamba last year and was due to be consecrated bishop in February, to take over when Parrilla retired at 75, the normal retirement age for bishops.

Anchorage’s former archbishop, Paul Etienne, became the Seattle coadjutor archbishop in 2019 before being elevated to Archbishop of Seattle in September.

He was a coadjutor bishop in the diocese for two years before that and also served as bishop of the Pensacola-Tallahassee Diocese in Florida from 1991-95.

He asked to be a coadjutor bishop from Pope Francis because of health issues and submitted a letter of resignation, which was accepted Feb. 2.