Pope Francis names Long Island priest William E. Koenig bishop of Wilmington

Msgr. William E. Koenig, a native of Queens who grew up in East Meadow and once headed the Catholic Youth Organization on Long Island, was named by Pope Francis on Friday to become bishop of the Diocese of Wilmington in Delaware.

Koenig will have an extra responsibility in his new post: President Joe Biden, a longtime Delaware resident and a Roman Catholic, will be among the parishioners in his diocese.

The appointment of Koenig, 64, a former rector of the Cathedral of St. Agnes in Rockville Centre, was announced in Washington, D.C., by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the pope’s representative to the United States.

Bishop John Barres, head of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, called Koenig a widely respected "priests' priest" and a "pastoral artist of parish life and a champion of Catholic education, Catholic Social Justice teaching and the Gospel of Human Life."

"Bishop-elect Koenig is a seasoned and experienced pastor who is known for his pastoral charity, his humility and his sincerity," said Barres, who himself served for 20 years in the Diocese of Wilmington. "He radiates an evangelizing spirit of joy and gentle interior peace that is the fruit of a deep prayer life and years of serving parishioners in a wide range of parishes, ministries and apostolates on Long Island."

Koenig will be installed July 13, replacing the Rev. W. Francis Malooly, who has served as bishop of Wilmington since 2008.

"I express my deep gratitude for the trust placed in me by His Holiness, Pope Francis in appointing me the tenth Bishop of Wilmington, Delaware," Koenig said in a statement.

Koenig and his family were parishioners at St. Raphael’s Roman Catholic Church in East Meadow, and he attended the parish’s parochial school. He went on to study at St. Pius X Preparatory Seminary in Uniondale, Cathedral College in Douglaston, Queens, and finally the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington.

After his ordination to the priesthood in 1983, he earned a master of social work degree from Fordham University.

He served at parishes in Syosset and St. James, and in campus ministries at Stony Brook University. He later headed the diocese’s vocations office in charge of recruiting new priests, and in his last post was the diocese’s vicar for clergy providing support to clergy.

Koenig will be heading to a diocese where, during two decades, Barres left a large footprint. Barres was ordained there in 1989, served as a parish priest and eventually rose to one of the top spots, chancellor.

According to Barres and others, Koenig is the type of pastor and future bishop "with the smell of sheep" that Pope Francis wants to elevate to lead dioceses — in other words, bishops or "shepherds" who remain close to their flocks and are not trapped by the allures of the Church's riches and hierarchy, jetting from conference to conference.

Koenig "is a Good Samaritan priest servant to youth, the elderly, the poor, the sick, the imprisoned, the migrant and the refugee," Barres said. "He is known for being a priests' priest who has the respect, trust, affection and esteem of priests of every age and generation."