the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Pope Francis last week announced the appointment of Bishop Peter Baldacchino, formerly the vicar at Our Lady of Mt Carmel in Ridgewood, and the Auxiliary Bishop of Miami, as the third Bishop of the Diocese of Las Cruces.His installation as bishop will take place on July 23.
Baldacchino was born in Malta on Dec. 5, 1960, the second oldest of four children, one girl and three boys. He received a Catholic education in Malta. He was called to the priesthood because of a profound experience at age 28 when attending a World Youth Day gathering with Pope St. John Paul II. As the bishop said in a statement, “I fell in love with the missionary spirit of the church.”
Soon after, in October 1990, he was sent to the Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary of Newark, N.J. Where he earned a Master of Divinity degree from Seton Hall University. Baldacchino was ordained a priest on May 25, 1996, for the Archdiocese of Newark.
He served for three years as parochial vicar at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish in Ridgewood, N.J. In 1999, he was sent as a missionary to serve as chancellor for the Roman Catholic Mission Sui Iuris Turks and Caicos Islands. Additionally, he became pastor of Our Lady of Divine Providence parish, on the island of Providenciales, where he built their new Church and Holy Family Academy, the only Catholic school in the country.
Fr. Petet is one of the good ones. 🙂 As has been said before, even a broken (Vatican) clock is right twice a day.