Pope Francis today appointed four local priests as new auxiliary bishops for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

The bishops-elect are: Msgr. Albert Bahhuth, 66, pastor of Holy Family Catholic Church in South Pasadena; Father Matthew Elshoff OFM, Cap., 67, pastor of St. Lawrence of Brindisi Church in the Watts area of South Los Angeles; Father Brian Nunes, 58, the LA Archdiocese’s vicar general and moderator of the curia; and Father Slawomir Szkredka, 49, professor of biblical studies and coordinator of human formation at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo….

Since the death of Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell last February, only one of the LA Archdiocese’s five pastoral regions, San Pedro, was being overseen by an auxiliary bishop, Marc Trudeau. The other four pastoral regions have been under the leadership of interim episcopal vicars.

One of seven children, Bahhuth grew up in Beirut, Lebanon but immigrated to the U.S. at 20 to study chemical engineering at the University of Missouri. After receiving a PhD from the University of Mississippi, he taught chemical engineering at the University of Wyoming before moving in 1984 to Los Angeles, where he worked in the retail and fast-food industries, including owning a Subway franchise.

Bahhuth entered St. John’s Seminary in 1991 as he discerned the call to the priesthood. He was ordained in 1996 and served in several parishes in the archdiocese, including as pastor of St. Finbar in Burbank (2002-2013) and St. Kateri Tekakwitha in Santa Clarita (2013-2015)….

Elshoff was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, but grew up in the LA area, attending St. Bede the Venerable church and school in La Cañada Flintridge as a child. After graduating St. Francis High School, also in La Cañada Flintridge, he entered the Capuchin Franciscan Order in 1973 and was ordained to the priesthood by Cardinal Timothy Manning in 1982.

As a Capuchin, Elshoff has served all but 7 years ministering in the archdiocese, including as president of his alma mater, St. Francis High School, pastor of Old Mission Santa Ines in Solvang, and most recently as pastor at St. Lawrence Brindisi in Watts, in LA’s inner city….

The oldest of four children, Nunes was born and raised in the Los Angeles area to immigrant parents from Hong Kong. He studied communications at Loyola Marymount University before working as a journalist for Business Wire for 12 years. He entered St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo in 2002 and was ordained to the priesthood in 2008.

As a priest, Nunes served at Mary Star of the Sea in San Pedro and St. Gregory the Great before going on to serve as Archbishop Gomez’s priest secretary from 2015-2019. He succeeded Msgr. Bahhuth as vicar general and moderator of the curia in 2020….

The youngest of the bishops-elect at 49, Szkredka was born in the town of Czechowice-Dziedzice in southern Poland, less than 50 miles from St. Pope John Paul II’s hometown of Wadowice. He began his studies for the priesthood at Krakow’s Metropolitan Seminary and continued at SS. Cyril & Methodius Seminary in Orchard Lake, Michigan. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 2002.

Szkredka entered the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, also known as the “Biblicum,” in 2008. In 2015, he returned to Los Angeles to teach at St. John’s Seminary and in 2017 earned a Doctorate in Sacred Scripture after defending his dissertation on Sinners and Sinfulness in Luke. He is also the author of Icon of Trust: Mary in the Gospels of Luke and John, published last year….

From Angelus News