Madang gets new bishop

Faith

POPE Francis has appointed his excellency most reverend Anton Bal , pictured, as the new archbishop of Madang, Papua New Guinea.
Bal is presently the bishop of the Kundiawa diocese
The announcement was made by the Apostolic Nunciature (Vatican Embassy) in Port Moresby last Friday.
Bal will replace Archbishop Stephen Reichert, who had reached the age limit.
Bal, 55, from Gumine in Chimbu (diocese of Kundiawa) completed his elementary studies at the Dirima Primary School and Kondiu High School and entered St Fidelis minor seminary in Madang.
He went on to study philosophy and theology at the Holy Spirit Seminary, Bomana, in Port Moresby, and was ordained priest for the diocese of Kundiawa in 1991.
From 2004 to 2007, he was vicar general of the diocese of Kundiawa and administrator of the cathedral of Kundiawa, Chimbu.
He was elected auxiliary bishop of Kundiawa on June 5, 2007, and received the episcopal consecrations on Sept 10 and was appointed as the ordinary bishop of Kundiawa on Jan 12, 2009.
Bal is the vice president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of PNG and the Solomon Islands, chairman of the committee for integral human development and bishop deputy of the national family life commission.