Auxiliary Bishop Rosazza Of Hartford Archdiocese Resigns

Auxiliary Bishop Peter A. Rosazza of the Hartford Archdiocese, a champion of bridging the divide between Connecticut's cities and suburbs, has resigned, effective Wednesday.

As is customary with Roman Catholic priests, Rosazza submitted his resignation on his 75^th birthday, Feb. 13, to Pope Benedict XVI, according to a statement from Archbishop Henry J. Mansell.

"I am happy to say that in retirement Bishop Rosazza will continue to serve our Archdiocese in many ways: in confirmations, special events, advice and counsel, etc.," Mansell said in a statement.

"I am profoundly grateful for all his talented and dedicated work for the Archdiocese."

Rosazza was born in New Haven and grew up in Torrington. He was ordained a priest in 1961, rising to bishop in 1978. As a Catholic leader, he focused on social justice issues and sought solutions to the damage of suburban sprawl and urban flight with an organization called The CenterEdge Project.

"People run from the city and their problems follow them to the suburbs," Rosazza said in 2002. "People run from the suburbs to avoid the change and they carry new problems with them."

"We don't know what the answer is," he said. "But we feel it is an important problem challenging the entire state. The divisions between the cities and the rest threaten us all. We are already 'One nation under God.' We should be 'One state under God.' "

Rosazza also was a vocal advocate of traditional marriage. At a state Capitol rally opposing gay marriage in 2004, he mocked the notion that "love makes a family," a concept embraced by gay rights activists.

"If it's only love, then what about other relationships?" Rosazza asked, citing a man and two women who might be in a loving relationship. "Once one changes the definition of marriage, where does it stop?"

Like many other Catholic leaders, Rosazza also had to face reporters' questions about sexual abuse by priests. In 2002, he was asked why a New Britain priest wanted in Costa Rica on molestation charges had been allowed to continue ministering. Rosazza responded, "There is a very good explanation for that, but I'm not going to give it to you."

But Rosazza had a reputation for standing with the poor and disadvantaged. He spoke out on housing, health care and the environment and rallied against the state's death penalty. He was a strong advocate for Hispanic Catholics and served through much of the 1970s at Sacred Heart Parish, the mother church of Hartford's Hispanic Catholics.

Rosazza also served as assistant pastor in the Church of St. Timothy in West Hartford and as a foreign language teacher at St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield. He maintains an office and residence at the Hospital of St. Raphael on Chapel Street in New Haven.

Asked along with others what items he would put in a time capsule to be opened in the year 3000, Rosazza told The Courant in 1999 that his first item would be a photo of a mother nursing a baby.

"I think that's so beautiful, so powerful," he wrote. "That's life."

SIC: CourantCom