Robert Nugent Lynch

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Styles of Robert Nugent Lynch
Reference style	His Excellency The Most Reverend
Spoken style	Your Excellency
Religious style	Bishop

Robert Nugent Lynch (born May 27, 1941) is a prelate of the Roman Catholic Church and the Bishop Emeritus of St. Petersburg, Florida. He was consecrated as the Bishop of St. Petersburg on January 26, 1996.

Education[]

Robert Nugent Lynch received his bachelor of arts degree from the Pontifical College Josephinum in Worthington, Ohio in May 1963 and his master of divinity degree from Pope John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, Massachusetts in May 1978. That same month, he was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Miami.^{[citation needed]}

Pastoral work[]

As a priest for the Archdiocese of Miami, Lynch served as associate pastor of St. James in North Miami, and rector and president of St. John Vianney College Seminary in Miami. His most recent assignment before coming to St. Petersburg was in Broward County, Florida for about six months as the second pastor of St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church.^{[citation needed]}

Episcopacy[]

On December 5, 1995, Pope John Paul II appointed Lynch the fourth Bishop of St. Petersburg to fill the vacancy left when John Favalora was named Archbishop of Miami a year prior. Lynch was consecrated and installed as Bishop on January 26, 1996. Archbishop Favalora served as Principal Consecrator with Archbishop Edward McCarthy and Archbishop Paul Casimir Marcinkus serving as Principal Co-Consecrators. Bishop Lynch served terms as the General Secretary of the United States Catholic Conference (USCC) and the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB).^{[citation needed]}

Lynch was appointed the Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Palm Beach, while remaining the Bishop of St. Petersburg, on June 6, 1998. He remained administrator until November 12, 1998, when Bishop Anthony O'Connell was appointed to fill the vacancy. Lynch continued the reorganization and management of the diocese begun under Archbishop Favalora. He commissioned the building of a new Pastoral Center, and on March 31, 2000, the newly erected Bishop W. Thomas Larkin Pastoral Center was formally dedicated. He also took an active role in planning for the future construction of new Catholic high schools, and improvements to the existing schools.^{[citation needed]}

Scandals[]

The Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg during Lynch's tenure spent $4.7 million to settle sexual misconduct cases.^[1][2]

During Lynch's tenure, the diocese paid a $100,000 settlement to a former diocesan spokesman who accused Bishop Lynch of sexual harassment and inappropriate touching.^[3] Pope Francis accepted his resignation on November 28, 2016 and named Gregory Parkes as his successor.

See also[]

References[]

External links[]

• Diocese of St. Petersburg
• Bishop Lynch Biography
• Clerical Response to Terri Schiavo's Death