Vatican appoints Rev. John Dolan auxiliary bishop for San Diego’s Catholic diocese

The Rev. John Dolan, a veteran parish priest, has been named auxiliary bishop for the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego.

He’ll assist Bishop Robert McElroy — or, as one observer said, become “Vice Disruptor” to the prelate, an outspoken critic of President Trump’s policies.

Both McElroy and Dolan downplayed the political significance of the appointment, which was made by the Vatican on Wednesday at noon, Rome time.

“It’s not particularly related to that,” said McElroy, 63, who has been San Diego’s bishop since 2015. “It will provide an additional level of episcopal leadership in the life of the diocese.”

The sprawling diocese serves 1.3 million Catholics in San Diego and Imperial counties.

Dolan’s promotion reflects Pope Francis’ desire to appoint pastoral leaders, McElroy said, rather than theologians, canon lawyers, Vatican insiders or seminary rectors.

“Less abstraction,” McElroy said, “and more knowledge of the nitty, gritty of life.”

Dolan, 54, is a native San Diegan who grew up in Clairemont’s “Catholic gulch” between St. Mary Magdalene Church and the University of San Diego,

A graduate of that university and St. Francis Seminary, Dolan has been a San Diego diocesan priest for 27 years. Among other assignments, he’s been pastor of St. Rose of Lima in Chula Vista and St. Mary Star of the Sea in Oceanside.

Now the diocesan Vicar for Clergy, overseeing priests’ assignments, Dolan is also pastor of St. John the Evangelist in Hillcrest and St. Vincent de Paul in Mission Hills.

One of nine children, Dolan was praised by McElroy for his “great warmth, great faith, great joyfulness.” He also has a reputation for modesty. Preparing to hear confessions on April 8, he glanced at his cell phone and saw he had missed a call from the nuncio, the pope’s ambassador, in Washington, D.C.

“Then I heard, ‘Bless me, Father, for I have sinned,’” Dolan said, reciting the penitent’s opening prayer. “Let me just say, that was the longest hour of confessions I’ve ever had.”

When Dolan finally left the confessional to call Washington, the nuncio congratulated him on his appointment.

Dolan, who will be ordained auxiliary bishop June 8 at St. Terese of Carmel, assumes this role at a time of renewed activism in the diocese. During a February meeting of community organizers and social justice activists in Modesto, McElroy noted that Trump had campaigned as a “disruptor.”

“Well now,” McElroy said, “we must all become disruptors.”

His 20-minute speech encouraged opposition to the administration’s immigration, refugee and health care policies, as well proposed cuts to the food stamp program and a temporary travel ban on visitors from six primarily Muslim nations.

On Wednesday night, McElroy was scheduled to tackle many of those same issues at a “Faith Not Fear” summit called by the San Diego Organizing Project.

Reporting on Dolan’s appointment, blogger Rocco Palmo dubbed the auxiliary bishop the “Vice Disruptor.”

In his “Whispers in the Loggia” blog, Palmo also noted that Dolan is now “pastor of a ‘welcoming parish’ in the city’s gay and lesbian district,” referring to Hillcrest’s St. John the Evangelist.

Dolan said he had been unfamiliar with the local LGBT community before arriving at St. John’s last year.

“It was an eye-opening experience,” he said, “but also a joyful experience.”

Dolan will become the diocese’s fifth auxiliary bishop, a position that was inaugurated by Richard Ackerman, who served from 1956 until 1960. He was succeeded by John R. Quinn (1967-71); Gilbert Chavez (1974-2007); and Salvatore Cordileone (2002-09).

McElroy himself was an auxiliary bishop, serving under Cordileone in the San Francisco diocese.

San Diego’s previous auxiliary bishops all became full-fledged bishops, with the exception of Chavez, who retired in 2007.