Paul Loverde

Ordination and ministry Loverde was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Norwich on December 18, 1965, in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome by Bishop Francis F. Reh.

Loverde also served as an instructor of canon law at Holy Apostles Seminary in Cromwell, Connecticut. In 1982, he received a Licentiate of Canon Law from the Catholic University of America School of Canon Law in Washington, DC. From 1997 to 1999, Loverde was state chaplain of the New York Knights of Columbus. John Paul II appointed Loverde as the third bishop of Arlington. He was installed on March 25, 1999, at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington, Virginia.

For the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Loverde served as chair of the Committee on Vocations from 1995 to 1998 and as a member of the Administrative Committee from 2004 to 2008.

In 2004, Loverde charged one of his priests, Reverend James R. Haley, with several offenses at a church tribunal in Pennsylvania. In response, Haley accused Loverde of retaliation because he had exposed serious wrongdoing by three priests in the diocese. One priest had impregnated a man's wife, another embezzled over $320,000 from his church and the third was in possession of gay pornography. Haley also accused Loverde of sheltering gay priests in the diocese. Loverde suspended Haley after he refused to enter treatment.

In March 2006, Loverde announced that he would allow girls to serve at mass in the diocese at the discretion of the local pastors. Prior to 2006, Arlington was one of only two dioceses in the United States to forbid girls from that role.

On June 20, 2012, a Virginia woman sued Loverde, the diocese and other parties. She claimed that Reverend Thomas J. Euteneuer, a priest from the Diocese of Palm Beach, working for an anti-abortion organization in Arlington, had sexually abused her on several occasions in 2008. The plaintiff stated that Euteneuer, under the guise of conducting an exorcism, had kissed and fondled her. The plaintiff claimed that Loverde had given Euteneuer permission to perform exorcisms on other individuals. The woman eventually dropped her claims against Loverde and the diocese, but continued to sue Euteneuer's employer.

Board member

Institute for the Psychological Sciences in Arlington Catholic University of America Catholic Distance University in Charles Town, West Virginia Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., Mount St. Mary's University in Emmitsburg, Maryland

Awards

Founder's Award from Catholic Distance University (2010) Saint Luke Award from Saint Luke Institute (2012). Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the Institute for the Psychological Sciences (2012).

Retirement Pope Francis accepted Loverde's letter of retirement as bishop of Arlington on October 4, 2016, and appointed Bishop Michael F. Burbidge as his successor.