New appointment in the diocese of Burlington, Vermont, where Auxiliary Bishop Christopher Coyne of Indianapolis has been named bishop.
Bishop Coyne, 56, is a prelate who believes in the digital world and became comfortable with social media when it was just becoming known. He evangelizes where young people can be found, on the Web.
As one of the first churchmen on the Web he started his own blog "Let us Walk Together: Thoughts of a Catholic Bishop." He is chair-elect of the U.S. Bishops' Committee on Communications, which means he also will become a member of the bishops' Communications Committee, when he assumes chairmanship of the Communications Committee next year.
As a priest of the Boston Archdiocese he worked for Boston's Catholic TV Network and was nominated for an Emmy Award.
Bishop Coyne was ordained for the Archdiocese of Boston and came to prominence as a spokesman for the Boston Archdiocese when it was under fire for Cardinal Bernard Law's handling of sexual abuse of minors by clergy. Bishop Coyne's competency in this role drew widespread attention. The native New Englander holds an undergraduate degree in business from University of Massachusetts-Lowell and graduate degrees in liturgical studies from Rome's pontifical university San Anselmo.
