(The Pillar. JD FLYNN).
When Archbishop George Lucas of Omaha turns 75 on Wednesday, he will be one of 10 U.S. metropolitan archbishops serving past the formal retirement age for diocesan bishops. With Lucas’ birthday, nearly a third of America’s archdioceses will be led by an ordinary awaiting retirement — and three more metropolitan archbishops are due to turn 75 within a year’s time. As presbyterates in Boston, Kansas City, Cincinnati, and elsewhere wait to hear who will next lead them, speculation about bishops likely to be promoted has become a frequent topic of conversation. But with massive turnover among the metropolitans in the offing, who are some of the American bishops most likely to see themselves receiving an archbishop’s pallium? The Pillar looks at five men possibly on the move.