Juneau Bishop Andrew Bellisario has been named by Pope Frances as the temporary leader of the Anchorage Archdiocese until a new archbishop is named to replace Archbishop Paul Etienne, who has been transferred to Seattle as of June 7.
Bishop Bellisario is the “apostolic administrator” of the Anchorage Archdiocese, where in 2016 and 2017 he was pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Cathedral. He will be ministering in both the Diocese of Juneau and the Archdiocese of Anchorage until the pope appoints a new archbishop.
Bellisario belongs to the Congregation of the Mission (also known as the Vincentians) founded by Saint Vincent de Paul in 1625.
He was born in Southern California and was ordained in 1984, and served as a parish priest in California and as dean of students at St. Vincent’s Minor Seminary at Montebello. He also served as director of the De Paul Evangelization Center at Montebello and as superior of the De Paul Center Residence there.
According to the Catholic Anchor, he was provincial superior of the Vincentians Province of the West from 2002 to 2010 and director of the Daughters of Charity at Los Altos from 2003 to 2015. He later served as the Superior of the international group of Vincentians in Anchorage to serve Latino Catholics in Alaska.
In 2017 Pope Francis appointed him to the Juneau Diocese, and Archbishop Etienne ordained him as the bishop of Juneau on Oct. 10, 2017.