Msgr. Berg Selected Fort Worth Diocese's Diocesan Administrator

Msgr. Stephen J. Berg, the former diocesan vicar general, was selected Thursday as diocesan administrator of the Fort Worth Catholic Diocese. Msgr. Berg will serve until Pope Benedict XVI names a new bishop and the new bishop is installed.

Msgr. Berg, who was vicar general under former Bishop Kevin Vann, will oversee the day-to-day responsibilities of the Diocese as set out in Catholic Canon Law.  canon law specifies that a diocesan administrator takes care to “maintain the status quo of the diocese” while the bishop's office is vacant.

“I am very pleased to accept this interim position of service,” Msgr. Berg said. “I hope with God’s grace to serve the people of the Diocese during this period of transition. 

“I appreciate the confidence of the College of Consultors, and I ask for the prayers and support of all of the priests, deacons, religious, and lay faithful during this time of transition,” he said.

Msgr. Berg was selected diocesan administrator by the diocesan College of Consultors and was accepted by Archbishop Carlo Vigano, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States. The College of Consultors is made up of 10 priests of the Diocese. They served as advisors to former Bishop Vann and, under canon law, were responsible for choosing a diocesan administrator.

Msgr. Berg was born March 3, 1951 in Miles City, Montana. After a successful career in retail, he entered San Antonio Assumption Seminary in 1993 and was ordained a priest for the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth on May 15, 1999 by his uncle, Bishop Joseph Charron.

He served as parochial vicar of St. Michael Parish in Bedford from 1999 to 2001 and St. John the Apostle Parish in North Richland Hills from 2001to 2002. In 2002, he was named pastor of St. Mary Parish in Henrietta, St. Jerome Parish in Bowie, St. William Parish in Montague, and St. Joseph Parish in Nocona and served the four parishes until 2008 when he was appointed diocesan vicar general and pastor of St. Peter the Apostle Parish in White Settlement.

In 2010, Bishop Vann expanded Msgr. Berg's duties to include both the positions of diocesan vicar general and diocesan moderator of the curia.

At the recommendation of Bishop Vann, Pope Benedict XVI in 2011 named Msgr. Berg a Prelate of Honor, granting him the title “monsignor.”

The Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth is composed of 710,000 Catholics in 89 parishes in the 28 counties of North Texas.  The Diocese was created in 1969 and had a Catholic population of 67,000.  Today, the Diocese is one of the fastest growing and most diverse dioceses in the United States.

Bishop Vann was named the fourth Bishop of Orange on September 21, 2012. He was installed on Monday, December 10, 2012.