WASHINGTON (CNS) — Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Robert W. Muench of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and named as his successor Bishop Michael G. Duca of Shreveport, Louisiana.
Bishop Muench, who has headed the Baton Rouge Diocese since 2002, is 75, the age at which canon law requires bishops to turn in their resignation to the pope. Bishop Duca, who turned 66 June 5, has headed the Shreveport Diocese since 2008.
The changes were announced June 26 in Washington by Archbishop Christopher Pierre, the Vatican nuncio to the United States.
Born June 5, 1952 in Dallas, Texas, Bishop Duca studied at the city’s Holy Trinity Seminary before being ordained a priest for the diocese April 29, 1978.
In addition to his ministry at various Dallas-area parishes, Bishop Duca has served as the diocese’s vocations director, the director of ongoing formation of priests, and as a campus minister at Southern Methodist University.
Bishop Duca was rector of Holy Trinity Seminary in Dallas from 1996 until his appointment as bishop of Shreveport in 2008.
