Robert E. Guglielmone

Robert Eric Guglielmone (born December 30, 1945) is an American Catholic prelate who served as bishop of Charleston in South Carolina from 2009 until 2022.

Biography Early life and education Robert Guglielmone was born on December 30, 1945, in New York City to Frank and Caroline Guglielmone. He has two brothers, Nicholas and Tito Guglielmone. The family moved to Long Island in New York when he was a child. Guglielmone graduated from a Catholic high school there in 1964. He then attended St. John's University in Queens, where he obtained a bachelor's degree in education.

Guglielmone taught business at Patchogue-Medford High School in Medford, New York, for five years while working on a graduate degree at New York University. Deciding to become a priest, Guglielmone entered the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington, New York, during the 1970s, earning a Master of Divinity degree in 1977. After his ordination, the diocese assigned Guglielmone as assistant pastor at St. Martin of Tours Parish in Amityville, New York, and at St. James Parish in Setauket, New York. In 1986, he was named director of pastoral formation and dean of seminarians at Immaculate Conception.

Bishop of Charleston

On January 24, 2009, Guglielmone was appointed as the 13th bishop of Charleston by Pope Benedict XVI. He received his episcopal consecration on March 25, 2009, from Cardinal Edward Egan, with Bishops Murphy and Robert Baker serving as co-consecrators, at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Charleston.

In August 2019, Guglielmone was sued in New York State by a man claiming Guglielmone sexually abused him at age eight. The abuse allegedly took place between 1978 and 1979 at St. Martin of Tours Parish in Amityville, when Guglielmone was assistant pastor there. Guglielmone denied the allegations. The Diocese of Rockville Centre investigated the allegation and found it not credible. In December 2020, the Vatican concluded its own investigation and determined Guglielmone to be innocent of the charges.

Guglielmone submitted his letter of resignation as bishop of Charleston to Pope Francis in December 2020 at the mandatory age of 75. The pope did not accept his resignation at that time. In December 2021, without commenting on the allegations, Guglielmone returned Mwape to St. Anthony.

In November 2021, Guglielmone was sued by a former altar boy. The plaintiff alleged that Guglielmone and the diocese were covering up sex abuse committed against him by Reverend Robert Kelly at St Andrew Parish in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in the early 1990s.

In November 2021, Guglielmone banned his priests from conducting confirmations or the anointing of the sick using the Roman Missal. He also restricted the practice of the Tridentine Mass within the diocese. These steps followed the 2021 publication by Francis of Traditionis custodes, an ecclesiastical letter that set new rules on these liturgies.

Retirement On February 22, 2022, Francis accepted Gugliemone's resignation as bishop of Charleston. Brother Barnabas Founders Award from the National Catholic Committee on Scouting (1998) Silver Saint George Emblem from the National Catholic Committee on Scouting (1998) Silver Buffalo Award from Boy Scouts of America (2012)